Reform of trade union laws - phase one
Implementation date: Expected 2025
The Employment Rights Bill includes various provisions to reform industrial relations law.
The following provisions are due to come into effect when the Bill receives Royal Assent, which is expected to be in 2025:
- repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, which provides for minimum service levels to be in place during any period of strike action in certain services.
The following provisions are due to come into effect two months after the Bill receives Royal Assent:
- repeal of the changes to industrial action ballots introduced by the Trade Union Act 2016, which would mean:
- unions requiring only a simple majority of those voting to have a mandate for industrial action (with no requirement for any level of turnout or support threshold);
- not having to summarise the issues in dispute to which the proposed industrial action relates; and
- unions having to give seven days' notice of industrial action, instead of the current 14 days;
- removal of conditions that were introduced in May 2024 to the check-off process in the public sector;
- removal of the requirement on public-sector employers to publish details relating to facility time; and
- strengthened protection against blacklisting.
The Bill also allows for the introduction of electronic balloting for industrial action. This may be implemented in 2025.
On 21 October 2024, the Government launched a consultation on Making Work Pay: creating a modern framework for industrial relations. The consultation seeks views on measures contained in the Bill, and the Government's proposal to "update trade union legislation". The consultation closes on 2 December 2024.
See Reform of trade union laws - phase two for details of further reforms to be implemented at a later stage.
