The new Employment Rights Act 2025 (“Act”) is currently reshaping the landscape of employee relations, introducing some of the most significant reforms to UK labour law in the last decade. The Act will be gradually implemented in several waves from December 2025 to 2027, with the first three rounds of changes having already taken effect, as of December 2025, January 2026, and April 2026.
The new Act is designed to strengthen employee protections, provide greater job security, and enhance workplace rights across the country, with many of the most significant reforms redefining trade union organisation, the dynamics of industrial action, and the regulations protecting striking workers. Yet, despite the importance of new reforms, many employers remain unaware of their new obligations, the changes they need to make, and how to ensure compliance.
As an employer, it can be difficult to navigate a changing legal landscape. The recent and upcoming changes might have left you unsure about your rights, duties, and potential liabilities when engaging with workplace unions. That’s why Find Me A Solicitor has prepared a short article to walk you through some of the biggest changes, what you need to do, and when the changes are scheduled to take effect.
Abolition of ‘Minimum Service Standards’
In December 2025, the previous Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 was fully repealed to make way for the Employment Rights Act 2025. These former regulations were designed to ensure ‘minimum service levels’ in certain sectors, allowing employers to issue work notices obliging specific employees to work. This enabled professional services in many sectors to continue operating during strike periods, albeit on a reduced scale.
Removing minimum service levels will allow employees greater flexibility when engaging in industrial action. If a sufficient number of workers decide to strike, there may be a drastic increase in the operational impact of industrial action and the repercussions for companies. As an employer, you may therefore wish to consider taking preventative action, including the facilitation of positive employee engagement to reduce the likelihood of a successful strike ballot.
Strengthened Dismissal Protections for Strikers
As of 18 February 2026, there are also increased dismissal protections for any employees engaging in industrial action. Dismissing an employee because of their decision to strike will now always be legally classified as ‘automatically unfair’ and will expose employers to the resulting legal liabilities. The core change is the abolition of the previous 12-week limitation period, which previously meant that a dismissal prompted by industrial action was generally only considered unfair if it took place during the first 12 weeks of the employee’s decision to strike. The removal of this period means that any strike-related dismissal will expose employers to unfair dismissal liability, provided it takes place within a valid strike mandate period.
These reforms are designed to strengthen protections against penalisation for trade union involvement. As an employer, you should review your internal policies and ensure line manager and human resources teams remain up-to-date with the new regulations.
Relaxing of Industrial Action Regulations
Another core change of the new Employment Rights Act 2025 is the relaxation of the rules governing the practicalities of strike action. Several logistical burdens have been reduced, allowing trade unions greater control over how and when to conduct strikes. A key change is the reduction in required notice periods; while previous legislation required trade unions to issue 14 days’ notice of any prospective industrial action, the new Act requires only 10 days’ notice. As an employer, this means you will have significantly less time to prepare your business for impending strikes; it may therefore be advisable to establish contingency plans ahead of time.
As of February 2026, the statutory requirement for trade unions to appoint a ‘picket supervisor’ has also been removed. This position originally required unions to appoint a designated individual to ensure the safety and legality of strike pickets. The removal of this requirement reduces one of the procedural obstacles faced when engaging in industrial action, allowing unions to strike with greater ease.
The Act also reduces the regularity with which trade unions will be required to conduct strike ballots. The mandate of a successful industrial action ballot will now remain valid for a 12 month period, doubling the previous 6-month validity period.
Abolition of the ‘Majority Support’ Recognition Requirement
The new Act is also designed to facilitate an easier recognition process for trade unions. Many changes have already come into force and a new, specialised Code of Practice is projected for publication in October 2026.
As of April 2026, many recognition requirements have already been simplified. The previous requirement for trade unions to establish that they are likely to receive support from a majority of workers was removed, allowing new unions to be recognised for the purposes of collective bargaining without satisfying this evidential threshold. Likewise, the former requirement for 40% voter support in any recognition ballot has been removed.
The simplification of recognition procedures means that some employers may witness an uptake in the number of unions entitled to engage in collective bargaining. You should update your recognition procedure, including templating new recognition responses in advance.
New Ballot Reforms
The new Act aims to reform voting rules in relation to strike ballots, union elections, and other trade union ballots. As of August 2026, it will be possible for trade union members to cast their votes both in-person and online, subject to the agreement of the union and the employer. It is also anticipated that the Government will abolish the existing 50% voter turnout threshold, enabling binding votes, even where there is limited voter engagement.
New Duty to Inform Employees of Trade Union Rights
From October 2026, you will be required to provide all new employees with a written statement, explaining that they have the right to join a trade union. You should hand this statement out alongside the usual employment particulars mandated by Section 1 Employment Rights Act 1996. You should also provide existing staff with periodic written reminders of their trade union rights. The regularity and timelines of such notices are yet to be established in secondary legislation.
In advance of these reforms, you may wish to review your staff onboarding processes, ensuring that written notice of trade union rights can be found within core documents like employee handbooks.
New Workplace Access Rights for Trade Unions
Reforms scheduled for October 2026 will provide unions with the right to arrange physical or online access to the workplace. These changes are designed to bolster union organisation by allowing them to engage with employees on a direct face-to-face basis. The new reforms will allow unions to request workplace access for a variety of reasons, including the enlisting of new members, the representation of current members, engagement in effective collective bargaining, and organisation between members.
As an employer, you may wish to prepare in advance by establishing new procedures to facilitate access negotiation and agreement. It’s important to understand that, if you are unable to agree appropriate arrangements with a relevant union, the dispute will be referred to the Central Arbitration Committee for resolution and that any refusal to engage in negotiation will not impede the new workplace access entitlements.
Ensuring Compliance
The landscape of unionisation and industrial action is changing rapidly. With new reforms related to recognition, voting, and strike action, it’s important you remain up-to-date and aware of your new obligations as an employer. To comply with the Employment Rights Act 2025, you should:
- Review onboarding processes and documentation to include notification of trade unionisation rights.
- Regularly notify existing workers of their right to join a union.
- Train management and human resources in the new regulations.
- Plan ahead for prospective industrial action, remaining conscious that ‘minimum staffing requirements’ no longer exist, and that industrial mandates now exist for 12 months.
- Plan ahead for trade union recognition applications and procedures. You may wish to consider templating recognition responses.
- Establish a new negotiation procedure to facilitate union access to the workplace.
Summary
The Employment Rights Act 2025 welcomes in a new era of employee relations and industrial action, with strengthened protections for striking employees, simplified trade union recognition procedures, and greater rights of access. With the landscape changing so rapidly, it’s important you remain up-to-date with your current rights and duties as an employer.
You should consider planning ahead for an increase in workplace unions and potentially severe strike action. With greater flexibility for employees and unions, it may be vital to invest in positive worker relations and enable employee input to foster a positive work environment.
If you have any questions or queries relating to employment relations, trade union rights, or industrial action, you can contact findmeasolicitor.co.uk today.
Written and researched by Kristin Poole