The wrong time to decide your trade union strategy is when an access request lands in a site manager’s inbox.
From 30 October 2026, the new statutory framework allows independent trade unions to request physical and digital access to workplaces. Where agreement cannot be reached, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) can determine whether access should take place and on what terms.
For employers, my advice is straightforward: have a plan, not a panic. That does not mean every employer needs the same approach. It means understanding the legal framework, deciding who owns the response and thinking about what access could realistically look like before a request arrives.
A right to request access is not unrestricted access
The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduced a new statutory framework into the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. It allows qualifying trade unions to seek access to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers, whether or not those workers are union members, and to facilitate collective bargaining. Organising industrial action is expressly excluded from the statutory access purposes.
A union holding a certificate of independence can make a request. It does not have to be recognised by the employer first. Nor does the request process require the union to demonstrate an existing level of membership or support: recruitment is itself one of the permitted purposes. Employers should therefore not assume that the regime is irrelevant simply because they have not previously dealt with a union.
There is, however, an important distinction between a right to request access and an immediate right to walk into a workplace. Access takes place under agreed arrangements or terms determined by the CAC. An official arriving at reception does not, simply by invoking the new legislation, acquire unrestricted entry to the premises.
Equally, agreeing access is not the same as recognising a union for collective bargaining. Access and recognition are separate processes, although a union may seek access with the longer-term aim of building support for recognition.
Which employers and workplaces are covered?
The small-employer exception is the easiest to work with. The CAC must refuse access where the employer, taken together with associated employers, has fewer than 21 workers both on the day the request is received and on average over the preceding 13 weeks. This is not simply a headcount of the particular site the union wishes to visit. A small shop, office or depot may therefore fall within the framework because it forms part of a larger organisation. A request can also concern a group of fewer than 21 workers where the relevant employer meets the threshold.
Private dwellings are excluded from physical entry under the framework. That does not mean all premises with a residential element are excluded: the Code identifies residential care homes as potentially within scope, subject to the relevant considerations.
Map the employing entities, workforce numbers and relevant premises now. “There are only twelve people at this site” is just not going to be a correct assessment.
Know what constitutes a valid request
A statutory request is more than a general email asking whether a union can visit.
The request must identify the union, include a copy of its certificate of independence and describe the workers the union wishes to access, so far as known. It must also explain the purpose and nature of the proposed access, including whether physical access, digital communication or both are requested and, where relevant, the workplaces concerned and proposed frequency and duration.
Employers should check compliance, but should not confuse a sensible review with looking for technical escape routes. The Code says that minor accidental clerical or administrative errors should not be treated as a reason to reject an application and encourages the parties to work together to correct them. Use of the standard template is recommended, not compulsory.
Have a monitored contact address, a clear escalation route and a central team responsible for assessing requests. Reception, security and site managers need to know where to send an approach. They should not be expected to negotiate it.
The timetable: an overlooked email can become a problem quickly
The statutory response period ends at the end of the fifteenth working day after the day on which the access request is given. The negotiation period ends at the end of the twenty-fifth working day after the day on which the employer’s response notice is given. These are different trigger dates.
The usual deadline for an application to the CAC is the end of the fifty-fifth working day after the original request is given. A limited extension to the seventieth working day is available where the CAC is satisfied that applying within the usual period was not reasonably practicable.
The clock does not wait until the request reaches the right HR colleague or someone returns from leave. The Code expressly distinguishes the date the request is given from the date it is passed to the correct internal team.
Require same-day internal escalation, preservation of the original communication and central ownership of the deadlines. A request should not sit in a local inbox until the next management meeting.
What must the employer’s response say?
A holding acknowledgement should not be mistaken for the statutory response notice.
The response must state whether the employer agrees or disagrees with the request, wholly or partly. Where the employer disagrees, it must identify the disputed elements and explain why. Where it agrees, wholly or partly, additional practical information will be required, including relevant worker categories and approximate numbers, workplace information and assistance available, to the extent applicable.
That makes preparation important. A central team cannot produce a useful response if it has no information about the site, shift patterns, available rooms or existing union arrangements.
My advice is to separate three questions: is the request compliant, are there relevant legal grounds for resisting it, and what practical arrangements could make access work? Those questions should inform a reasoned response, not a reflexive “yes” or “no”.
Can an employer refuse access?
The framework contains a presumption towards access, but it is not an obligation to accept every term a union proposes. The statutory principles favour access that does not unreasonably interfere with the employer’s business and require employers to take reasonable steps to facilitate it. Entire refusal should occur only where reasonable in all the circumstances. Physical access should not be refused solely because digital communication is available, or vice versa.
There are specific circumstances in which access must or may be refused, including the small-employer threshold and certain issues relating to national security, criminal offences, overlapping union arrangements and health and safety. These require careful application to the facts.
The practical point is that “we do not want unions here” is not a strategy. Nor is “this is a busy workplace” a complete explanation of why the requested arrangements cannot work.
If a proposed room, time or route creates a genuine problem, explain it and put forward an alternative. For example, identify the specific safety issue with access to an operational area, then propose a suitable meeting space and safe visitor route. Evidence and workable alternatives are more useful than general objections.
What if another union is already recognised or seeking access?
Existing union arrangements matter, but the detail matters too. The regulations address overlap with recognition arrangements, an ongoing statutory recognition process and existing statutory access agreements. Where a request covers workers outside those arrangements, access may still be imposed for that other group. Multiple outstanding requests concerning overlapping workers can also provide grounds for refusal. However, the Code envisages opportunities for the unions concerned to resolve duplication through revised or joint applications. It does not describe an automatic first-come, first-served entitlement. Keep a central record of recognition arrangements, access agreements and live requests, including exactly which workers each covers. A site manager knowing that “we already have a union” is not enough.
What might reasonable access look like?
The model terms are particularly important for employers planning their negotiating position. Weekly access has a specific status: the CAC must regard a qualifying weekly-access term as not unreasonably interfering with the employer’s business. That does not mean the parties must always agree weekly access, but employers should understand the statutory benchmark before proposing a much more limited arrangement.
Other model terms concern reasonable use of existing accommodation and facilities, privacy of direct communications, notice and compliance with reasonable instructions. Reasonable instructions can include identification, signing in and relevant health and safety inductions. Employers are expected to take reasonable practical steps, but the Code does not expect significant structural changes to premises or IT systems to facilitate access.
Develop a negotiating framework rather than a rigid script. It should address the workers and sites covered, timing, frequency, duration, facilities, notice, safety requirements, digital channels, contacts and dispute resolution.
Consistency is valuable. Identical arrangements at every workplace may not be. A distribution centre, office and retail outlet can present different practical issues.
Digital access is not unrestricted access to your systems
Digital access may involve the employer circulating union communications, publishing information through an existing communication channel or facilitating an online meeting. It does not mean giving external union officials direct access to the employer’s IT systems.
Nor does it automatically entitle the union to workers’ personal contact details. The Code distinguishes employer-facilitated communications from direct contact involving disclosure of personal data and addresses the need for consent for that disclosure.
Employers should not assume that offering an intranet page answers a request for physical access. The framework expressly prevents one form of access being refused solely because the other is available.
Involve IT and communications colleagues early, alongside HR and operations. The aim should be a reliable process for delivering the agreed communications, not an improvised arrangement each time a message arrives.
Privacy must be built into the arrangements
Access is not meaningful if workers cannot speak privately. The Code and Acas guidance emphasise privacy. Employers should not attend access meetings unless invited, listen in, record online meetings, monitor attendance or engagement with union communications, or pressure workers to disclose what was discussed. Distinguish ordinary visitor and security arrangements from monitoring union engagement. A requirement for an official to sign in is different from compiling a list of workers who speak to them. Managers need clear guidance on that distinction before the first visit, not after a complaint.
What happens if an agreement is breached?
The work does not end when terms are agreed. Negotiated statutory agreements must be jointly notified to the CAC, and the framework provides enforcement mechanisms for breaches. The parties cannot simply amend or revoke a statutory agreement unilaterally.
Further qualifying breaches can lead to financial penalties. The maximum is £75,000 for a first penalty order, £150,000 for a second and £500,000 for a third or subsequent order under the same agreement. Those are maximum penalties, not automatic fines for receiving or rejecting a request. For multi-site employers, breaches at different workplaces under the same agreement can count cumulatively.
Treat implementation as a separate workstream: brief the people hosting visits, confirm the agreed arrangements and establish an escalation route for problems. An agreement negotiated centrally will not operate effectively if security or local management has never seen it.
Train managers for the situations they will actually face
I would avoid training that simply recites the legislation. Use short scenarios instead. A union official arrives at reception. A manager receives a formal request. A worker asks whether they can join a union. A room booked for access becomes unavailable. A union asks for an email to be circulated.
For each scenario, explain what the manager can do, what they must refer and what they should say. Give them usable words, not vague instructions to “handle appropriately”.
For example: “Thank you. We have a central team that deals with access arrangements. I will pass this to them today. I am not authorised to agree access terms locally.”
The objective is not to turn every manager into a trade union lawyer. It is to make the first response professional, consistent and timely.
Do not overlook the new duty to inform workers
Access is not the only change employers need to prepare for.
The Government’s announced implementation approach is for the duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union to start on 1 January 2027. Detailed secondary legislation is expected in November 2026, with further guidance afterwards. Employers should distinguish that announced approach from the final detailed requirements.
Under the published approach, new workers will receive a standardised statement alongside their employment particulars. Workers already employed when the duty starts, who remain employed on 5 April 2027, must receive the statement by that date. Direct delivery would be followed by annual provision by 5 April; an indirect approach, such as an accessible intranet or handbook, would require notification of its location and annual reminders.
The statement is intended to include information about recognised unions and statutory access agreements where applicable, as well as union functions and relevant rights. Employers will only be able to amend it where required or permitted.
Prepare the delivery method now, then check it against the final regulations. Decide how to reach workers without regular email or intranet access, who maintains the workplace-specific information and how delivery will be recorded. Make sure the process reaches the people who actually issue contracts and onboarding documents.
Strategy, not extremes
Employers have choices about how they approach these changes. Some may prefer proactive discussions about workable arrangements. Others may respond when approached, supported by a prepared framework and central negotiating team. Where genuine legal or operational concerns arise, those should be assessed properly and supported with evidence. What I would avoid is blanket refusal at one extreme and agreeing everything locally at the other. Neither is a strategy. I would also use this as a prompt to strengthen everyday conversations about pay, workloads and concerns. Good employee engagement is not a substitute for union rights. It is good management. The sensible response is neither panic nor complacency.
Understand the framework, decide who owns it and prepare arrangements that respect workers’ rights while addressing the realities of the business.
The content of this page is a summary of the law in force at the date of publication and is not exhaustive, nor does it contain definitive advice. Specialist legal advice should be sought in relation to any queries that may arise.
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