Reform of trade union laws - phase one

Implementation date: Expected 2026

The Employment Rights Act 2025 includes various provisions to reform industrial relations law.

The Act received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025. The following provisions are due to come into effect two months after Royal Assent:

• repeal of many of the changes to industrial action ballots introduced by the Trade Union Act 2016, which means 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.