Reform of trade union laws - phase two

Implementation date: April 2026

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

The Government has indicated, in Implementing the Employment Rights Bill: Our roadmap for delivering change, that the following measures will take effect in April 2026: 

  • simplification of the union recognition process, including by:
    • removing the requirement for majority support at the application stage;
    • removing the 40% support threshold; and
    • reducing the requirement from 10% membership at the application stage to a level not lower than 2%;
  • strengthened protections against unfair practices during the entire statutory recognition process;
  • a period of 20 working days to agree union access during a statutory recognition process; and 
  • electronic and workplace balloting (following consultation in autumn 2025).

See Reform of trade union laws - phase one and Reform of trade union laws - phase three for details of reforms to be implemented at different times.