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 measure is 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 many of the changes to industrial action ballots introduced by the Trade Union Act 2016, which would mean unions:
  
  • not having to summarise the issues in dispute to which the proposed industrial action relates;
  • having to give 10 days' notice of industrial action, instead of the current 14 days;
  • having to ensure peaceful picketing, rather than having to comply with obligations relating to supervision.
• removal of 40% support threshold for industrial action in "important public services";
• extension of industrial action mandate from six to 12 months;
• removal of conditions that were introduced in May 2024 to the check-off process in the public sector; and
• removal of the requirement on public-sector employers to publish details relating to facility time.

The following provision is also due to come into effect soon after Royal Assent:

• extended protection against dismissal for taking industrial action.

See Reform of trade union laws - phase two and Reform of trade union laws - phase three for details of further reforms to be implemented at later times.