Key takeaways
Clearer timelines for recognition process
Employers and unions face defined deadlines for access negotiations.
Unfair practice rules further clarified
Routine management actions usually permitted unless intended to disrupt or influence process.
Code expands access and guidance
Digital access, non typical workers, and updated guidance supported.
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has recently published the government's response to its consultations on trade union access and unfair practices during recognition and derecognition processes.
Background context
The Employment Rights Act 2025 contains provisions which will, once implemented, amend the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 relating to statutory trade union recognition and derecognition processes. In summary:
Information provision: following notification of a trade union’s recognition application, the employer will be required to provide specified information about the workers in a bargaining unit within five working days.
Timetable for agreeing access: upon notification that the CAC has accepted its recognition application, the trade union has 5 working days to request access from the employer, indicating what type of access it is seeking. This access request is followed by a negotiation period lasting 15 working days (which can be extended by mutual agreement), during which the employer and the union should seek to agree an access agreement. If no agreement is reached, the CAC will have 10 working days to determine a reasonable access agreement.
Prohibition on unfair practices: within five working days after the close of the recognition ballot, complaints can be submitted to the CAC where an unfair practice is alleged on the part of either the employer or trade union. The test for determining such unfair practices complaints is also amended to only require the CAC to consider whether an unfair practice has occurred, without having to determine the effect it may have had.
As a revised statutory code of practice will support these changes, DBT launched a consultation on a revised draft code of practice in spring 2026, to which it has recently published its response.
Consultation response
The government's response indicates that, following the consultation, it has further amended the revised draft code of practice. This updated version has been laid before parliament and, subject to approval, is expected to come into force in October 2026.
Revised Code of Practice
In summary, the Draft Code of Practice: Access and Unfair Practices During the Recognition and Derecognition Process has been further revised to address concerns raised during the consultation.
In summary, the government has:
amended the preamble of the code to provide greater clarity on the CAC’s role and clarify that statutory recognition procedures apply only where the bargaining unit has 21 or more workers
amended the code to clarify that ordinary management actions will generally not be unfair practices unless they are intended to ’disrupt or influence’ the recognition/derecognition process and clarified that legitimate management actions such as unrelated disciplinary processes and shift changes will not normally be unfair if they are unconnected to the recognition process
decided to proceed with a meeting frequency of one meeting every five working days, with a minimum duration of 45 minutes, and clarified that meetings should usually occur during normal working hours while minimising disruption
added guidance on accommodating non typical workers and access via digital channels such as staff intranets
confirmed that GOV.UK guidance and CAC guides will be updated to assist employers and unions.
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