The Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA 2025) will usher in a host of trade union changes. We discuss the developments that are coming into force from now until April 2026 below.
Published: 4 February 2026
Author: Jonathan Naylor
Transitional & saving regulations
To provide further guidance on the trade union changes being made under the ERA 2025, the government has published a number of ancillary documents and transitional and saving regulations, all of which come into force on 18 February 2026. These documents include: Picketing Code of Practice, Code of Practice on industrial action ballots and notice to employers and transitional and saving regulations. Government guidance on these transitional provisions is in Trade Union Law: Transition to Employment Rights Act 2025.
What changes are coming into force?
February 2026
(1) Increased dismissal protection for employees taking part in industrial action
Currently, an employee taking part in industrial action may bring a claim for unfair dismissal and that dismissal will be automatically unfair if the reason for the employee’s dismissal was because they took part in protected industrial action and the dismissal itself takes place within a specific timeframe by reference to the ‘protected period’ (usually the 12 weeks starting with the day the employee first took part in the industrial action).
However, from 18 February 2025 an employee will have protection both for the duration of the protected industrial action and after the industrial action has concluded and if an employee is dismissed because they took part in protected industrial action, it will be automatically unfair.
It has always good practice that any employer proposing to dismiss an employee who has taken part in protected industrial action should have a clear and evidenced reason for the dismissal that is clearly separate from the industrial action. The increased protection means that this is now more important than ever.
The transitional provisions make it clear that only industrial action commenced by the employee on or after 18 February 2026 will benefit from the enhanced protection. Industrial action commenced prior to 18 February 2026 will fall within pre-ERA 2025 law.
(2) Notice of industrial action and balloting requirements
Various changes to notice and balloting requirements will come into force on 18 February 2026. These include:
- the time needed for a trade union to give notice of industrial action to an employer will reduce from 14 days to 10 days
- the industrial action mandate (ie the period in which trade union members’ support for industrial action remains valid) will last for 12 months, instead of six months
- industrial action and ballot notices will be simplified.
Currently, the information required on the ballot is as follows:
- it must include a summary of the relevant matter(s) in the trade dispute
- any question about taking part in industrial action short of a strike must specify the type of industrial action to be taken
- the period(s) within which the industrial action, or each type of industrial action, is expected to take place must be indicated.
The ERA 2025 will remove these information requirements. From 18 February 2026 the trade union will just be required to ask its members on the ballot paper what type of industrial action they want to take part in (ie whether this is strike action or action short of a strike).
As with the changes to dismissal protection above, these changes will only apply to notices, ballots and mandates dated on or after 18 February 2026. For anything pre-dating 18 February 2026, the pre-ERA 2025 position will apply.
April 2026
(1) Simplification of how a trade union can gain statutory recognition in a workplace
The ERA 2025 will introduce several measures to simplify the statutory procedure for recognition of trade unions for the purposes of collective bargaining.
These measures include:
- removal of the requirement for a union to demonstrate that there is likely to be majority support for trade union recognition
- amendment to the requirement that for a trade union's application to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) to be accepted, the CAC must be satisfied that at least 10% of the workers in the bargaining unit are members of the union. The new proposal is that there will be a test of anywhere between 2% and 10%
- removal of the requirement that any recognition ballot is supported by a majority of workers voting and is supported by at least 40% of the workers constituting the bargaining unit. This will be replaced so that only a simple majority of those voting will be required.
The impact on employers will be that there is an increased likelihood unions will meet the requirements for statutory recognition. As such, it is prudent for employers to look at their trade union position now and consider, if appropriate, if it would be advisable to attempt to agree voluntary recognition with a union so that there is greater control of the recognition agreement and collective bargaining arrangements than an employer may have if the union gains recognition through the statutory process.
It is anticipated that these changes will come into force in April 2026, but we await the government’s consultation on these measures.
(2) Electronic balloting
Currently, trade union ballots must be held by post or workplace balloting (depending on the type of ballot).
The government anticipates bringing in measures to allow for electronic and workplace balloting to come into force in April 2026. Again, this is likely to improve turnout and voting, increasing the changes of successful ballot outcomes for trade unions.
Be prepared
All employers, regardless of whether they currently recognise a trade union, should be mindful of these changes and be prepared for a stronger union presence in the workplace.