Right of Access by Trade Unions Policy

From 30 October 2026, under the Employment Rights Act 2025, independent trade unions have a right to access the workplaces of employers that, together with any associated employers, employ 21 or more workers, and to communicate with workers. This Right of Access by Trade Unions Policy explains the right of access and how statutory requests will be dealt with.

Access may be used only for the purposes set out in the legislation: meeting, supporting, representing, recruiting or organising workers, and facilitating collective bargaining. It may not be used to organise industrial action.

The statutory process for an independent trade union requesting access is:

• The trade union gives the employer an access request
• The employer has 15 working days to give a response notice, naming a contact who can negotiate, saying whether it agrees or disagrees with the request (in whole or in part) and explaining any disagreement
• The employer and the union then have 25 working days to negotiate and agree the terms of access in writing
• If the employer does not respond in time, the union may apply to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC); if negotiations end without agreement, either the union or the employer may apply
• The CAC then decides whether access is to be given and, if so, on what terms.

If the employer and the union reach agreement, they notify the CAC of it jointly.

Related templates: our Trade Union Access Preparation Checklist and Trade Union Access Request Response Checklist.

For more on trade unions at work, see our free guides: Trade Union Certification and Recognition, Trade Union Collective Bargaining Rights and Rights of Individual Union Members & Officials.

For the timetable of the Employment Rights Act 2025 reforms, see our Employment Rights Act Implementation Roadmap.

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