Unions get a legal right to walk into workplaces from October

For the first time in Great Britain, trade unions are about to gain a general legal right to access workplaces they don’t already organise in. From 30 October 2026, under reforms contained in the Employment Rights Act 2025, independent unions will be able to formally request access, physically or digitally, to meet, support, represent, recruit and organise workers and to lay the ground for collective bargaining.

It’s a bigger change than the name suggests. Currently, there is no right for a union to access an employer’s workplace at all. Access happens only where an employer agrees to it voluntarily, which in practice has meant unions with no existing foothold in a workplace have had very little way in. That changes on 30 October.

Who does it apply to?

The right applies to employers with 21 or more workers. Crucially, a union does not need to already be recognised at a workplace, or to show it already has a minimum level of support among the workforce, before it can make a request. This is a new, standalone right, separate from the access arrangements that already exist during formal recognition or derecognition campaigns.

That distinction matters. It means a union with little or no existing presence in, say, a warehouse, a chain of shops or a hospitality group, can request access purely to start organising, not just to service members it already has.

How will it actually work?

The government has published a revised statutory code of practice setting out how access requests should be made, negotiated and put into effect, including in workplaces with hybrid or non-standard working patterns and in places not directly controlled by the employer. Where a union and an employer cannot agree terms, the union can apply to the Central Arbitration Committee, which has the power to impose an access arrangement and to levy financial penalties for non-compliance. The code distinguishes between deliberate or serious breaches and lower-level ones when it comes to setting those penalties.

Separately, changes to the code covering access during formal recognition campaigns will require employers to grant unions access meetings at least once every five working days, with each meeting lasting a minimum of 45 minutes.

Who’s likely to feel this first?

Employment lawyers advising businesses are already telling clients to expect the new framework to be tested quickly, particularly in retail and hospitality, sectors that have historically had low union density and where unions see clear room to grow. That aligns with the wider aim behind the reform – giving unions, in the words of one legal briefing, “a foot in the door” in workplaces where they have previously had little or no presence.

The access right also arrives alongside reduced thresholds for statutory recognition, which came into effect earlier in 2026, meaning unions will be able to use new access rights to build support in a workplace and then pursue formal recognition on an easier path than before. Taken together, the two reforms are designed to work as a pair – access gets a union in the door and the lower recognition threshold makes it realistic to convert that presence into a formal bargaining relationship, rather than leaving organisers to build support indefinitely with no clear route to recognition at the end of it.

For employers who have never dealt with a union, this is a significant shift. Where a company previously had almost complete discretion over whether a union set foot on site, that discretion has now gone. Legal advice circulating among employers already recommends preparing a position on access before any request lands, rather than improvising a response once a union writes in. Some employers with an existing, cooperative relationship with a recognised union may see little practical change beyond formalising arrangements that already exist informally. For those with no union relationship at all, the change is likely to be felt as a genuine loss of control over who gets to speak to their staff and when.

What counts as a refusal, and what doesn't

The framework does allow employers to refuse an access request, but only on narrow grounds set out in the code of practice and the Central Arbitration Committee has the final say if a dispute over a refusal reaches it. Employers cannot simply decline because they would prefer not to engage with a union, or because they dispute how much support the union already has among the workforce. The bar for a legitimate refusal is set deliberately high, reflecting the government’s stated aim of using the reform to normalise trade union engagement across sectors where it has been rare, rather than treating access as something to be granted only where a union can already prove significant existing membership.

What it means for organisers

For trade unionists and workplace organisers, this is one of the more concrete practical changes to come out of the Employment Rights Act, precisely because it isn’t really about existing union members. It’s about the workplaces where a union currently has no presence at all and where getting through the door has always been the first and hardest problem. From the end of October, that door has a statutory right attached to it for the first time.

That doesn’t mean the change is without friction of course. Employers who have never engaged with a union before now have to decide how to respond to a request they cannot simply ignore and some are likely to test the limits of the narrow exceptions that let them refuse. Unions, meanwhile, will need to think carefully about which workplaces to prioritise, given the resourcing that follows any access request. Turning up is one thing but organising effectively once you’re inside is another.

Unions have welcomed the new access rights. Speaking earlier this year TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Good employers recognise the benefits of working with trade unions. New access rights will make it easier for workers to join a union, helping to raise workplace standards and boost productivity across the economy.

“Unions will be doing everything they can to use these rights to make sure everyone can benefit from a union at work. Once again this is about bringing the UK back into the international mainstream after years of the Conservatives racing to the bottom on workers’ rights.”

Left Field is talking to organisers

We want to hear directly from trade unionists and workplace organisers about how they’re planning to use these new rights and from workers in sectors such as retail, hospitality and logistics about what union access, or its absence, has meant for them so far. Get in touch at [email protected] if you have a story to tell.