Employment Rights Act: Preparing for change: Government publishes responses to consultations on trade union access rights and recognition procedure

At a glance

• The government has published its responses to consultations on the draft Code of Practice (Code) on trade union access rights and the statutory recognition procedure, alongside regulations that will take effect on 30 October 2026.
• The revised Code provides greater clarity on how access requests should be submitted, negotiated and implemented, including guidance on digital access, non-standard working patterns and workplaces not controlled by the employer.
• The framework introduces a clearer approach to enforcement, distinguishing between serious or deliberate non-compliance and lower-level breaches when determining financial penalties.
• Changes to the Code of Practice on access and unfair practices during the recognition and derecognition process (Unfair Practices Code) confirm that unions must be granted access meetings at least once every five working days during recognition campaigns, with a minimum meeting duration of 45 minutes.
• The revised guidance confirms that routine management activity unrelated to union recognition will not generally amount to an unfair practice, with the key consideration being whether the action was intended to interfere with the recognition process.

On 6 July 2026 the government published its responses to consultations on the Code and the statutory recognition procedure, alongside regulations which will implement the access rights with effect from 30 October 2026.

Changes have been made to the Code, which will be the main source of practical guidance on how access requests should be made, negotiated and implemented across a range of workplaces, following feedback during the consultation process. The updated Code clarifies the process for submitting and responding to access requests, where and when access should take place and how financial penalties will operate, distinguishing deliberate or serious non-compliance from lower-level breaches. The guidance has also been updated in respect of more complex access arrangements, such as where the employer does not control the premises, where workers have non-typical working patterns and where digital access is sought. The final draft Code has been laid before Parliament alongside two accompanying statutory instruments: the Trade Unions (Right to Access Workplaces) Regulations 2026 and the Trade Unions (Right to Access Workplaces) (Required Information) Regulations 2026, which set out the procedural and operational detail of the right of access framework and will come into force on 30 October 2026.

The government has also responded to the consultation on a revised Unfair Practices Code The response confirms that the government will proceed with the proposed minimum frequency for access meetings during the recognition process of once every five working days and increase the minimum meeting duration from 30 to 45 minutes. It has made amendments to the Unfair Practices Code in response to consultation feedback. The Code now makes clear that normal management action unconnected to the recognition process – including performance reviews, disciplinary procedures conducted in accordance with the ACAS Code and legitimate shift pattern changes – will not generally constitute an unfair practice. The central question is whether the intention of the action was to disrupt the recognition process. The Code has also been amended to clarify that workplaces with fewer than 21 workers fall outside the scope of the statutory recognition regime and that employers should allow union materials to be distributed via the staff intranet.