Union workplace access right starts as BCC says employers lack guidance

The statutory right of trade unions to seek access to workplaces and workers took effect on Friday 30 October, and the British Chambers of Commerce says employers have been given no guidance on applying it.

Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, a qualifying independent union can ask an employer for access to meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers, or to facilitate collective bargaining, the Central Arbitration Committee said.

Patrick Milnes, head of people and work policy at the BCC, said businesses “urgently need clarity” on the new trade union access regulations.

He said firms had been given no guidance, which “limits their understanding of how the rules will operate in practice.”

The BCC said employers are now expected to let unions into their premises to speak to staff, yet are still waiting for government answers on a range of practical points.

One example is how to handle several access requests at once: the BCC said Regulation 14 covers the scenario but cross-references multiple clauses and other legislative instruments.

Milnes said small businesses without dedicated HR departments and legal teams “will have to spend time and resources trying to work out what they should do.”

He said new regulations and guidelines need to be phased so that firms can get to grips with them, and that deadlines for compliance risk confusion.

A union must first make a written, dated request, sent by post or delivered in person to the employer’s registered office, head office or principal place of business, or sent electronically to an address the employer has provided.

The employer’s response period ends at the end of the 15th working day after the day on which the access request is given, the CAC said.

If the employer gives a response notice and terms are not agreed, the negotiation period ends at the end of the 25th working day after that notice.

A union can then apply to the CAC within 55 working days of the original request, a period the committee may extend to 70 working days in some cases.

The CAC must refuse access where the employer has fewer than 21 workers overall, a threshold that applies to the employer as a whole rather than to the workers concerned.

It must also refuse where the proposed agreement gives less than five working days’ notice before first access, or runs for more than two years without agreed extension.

Complaints about breaches of an access agreement can be made to the CAC within three months, and penalty orders can follow only after an upheld complaint and a further breach.

The maximum penalty is £75,000 for a first order, £150,000 for a second under the same agreement and £500,000 for a third or later order.

The Office for Budget Responsibility said on Wednesday that it had assessed the Employment Rights Act 2025 in its October forecast and judged it will likely have a negative impact on potential output.

It said the size of the effect is too uncertain to make an explicit adjustment in this forecast.

The CAC described its guide as practical and not a statement of the law, and said further non-statutory guidance may be published by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.