The ERA 2025 - a planning and readiness guide for employers

Navigating the

Navigating the Employment Rights Act 2025 - A planning and readiness guide for employers Rights for trade unions to access workplaces • A new right for trade unions to physical and digital access to workplaces to meet, recruit or organise workers or to facilitate collective bargaining will be introduced on 30 October 2026. • Access to be arranged through an access agreement. • Responding to a request for access will be subject to tight timeframes. • If agreement cannot be reached either party can refer the matter to the Central Arbitration Committee to resolve. • Trade union need not be recognised to request access. • Even if you are not expecting to receive a request, a focus on how you meaningfully engage with your workers will be increasingly important. • Find out more about the reform Do you anticipate a trade union(s) may want to take advantage of this new right? Have you considered your strategy on how to manage an access request? How does this align with your wider industrial relations strategy and any potential requests for voluntary recognition (see April changes above). Consider reviewing your employee engagement strategy and feedback mechanisms - do employees feel their views count and that they have an ability to influence decisions where appropriate? Could taking pre-emptive action by proactively approaching a trade union of your choosing to explore agreeing access arrangements offer benefits? Identify how access requests will be handled in practice and who within the organisation will be responsible for responding to them. Are the right people aware that the timeframes for responding to an access request are short? Consider how access could work in practice and what arrangements would be necessary to minimise disruption to operations. Review communications channels for digital access and consider the practicalities of physical access (such as suitable meeting locations, access times, confidentiality limitations and the potential for thirdparty site access). Burges Salmon 14

Navigating the Employment Rights Act 2025 - A planning and readiness guide for employers Notes Burges Salmon 15