Trade union membership grows to 6.6 million

Union membership among public sector workers hit 6.6 million in 2025, up by almost 200,000 on the year before.

Meanwhile, union membership among employees in the private sector rose by 76,000 to 2.5 million, according to figures from the Department for Business and Trade.

The proportion of UK employees who are members of a trade union is 22.4%, up slightly on 22.0% in 2024.

The number of male employees in a union rose by 153,000 over the year to around 2.9 million, while the number of female members rose by 39,000 to 3.7 million.

Graduates are more likely to be in a union, the figures showed. Almost two-thirds (65%) of employed union members have a degree or equivalent, compared to 52% of non-union employees and 54% of all employees.

Forty-three per cent of members had been with their current employer for 10 years or more, compared to 24% of non-union members.

Union membership grew more sharply in Scotland than England, up 2.4 percentage points to 29.4%.

The proportion of employees who were trade union members in Wales decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 29.3%, and dropped by 1.7 percentage points to 32.4% in Northern Ireland.

The statistics come from the government's Labour Force Survey and are marked as "official statistics in development", which means they are in a testing or transformation stage - this refers to the Office for National Statistics introducing a new online survey to improve response rates.

Trade union membership in the UK peaked in 1979, when 13.2 million people were members of a trade union. The DBT said that union membership had declined in the past four decades, but the decline was slowing.

Employees in larger employers were more likely to see the impact of a union. In 2025, around 40% of jobs had pay set with reference to a collective bargaining agreement covering multiple employees.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak: "It's great to see more people across the country joining trade unions. There has never been a more important time to be a member of one.

"Whether it's fighting for fair pay and conditions, demanding better health and safety, or tackling the scourge of insecure work, unions are delivering real change for working people. When unions do well, working people do well. It pays to be in a union."

Nowak added that growth in union membership was a "huge vindication" of the work unions do, but warned them not to be complacent.

"It's now time to step up our efforts - especially with the repeal of restrictive anti-trade union legislation and new rights for unions to access workplaces.

"Unions have to grow, to represent more workers and get more workplaces covered by collective bargaining. That's how we raise wages, improve conditions and cut inequality.

"We won't rest until every worker has the security, dignity and respect at work they deserve."

Recent research from a law firm found that 17 new trade unions have been set up in the UK since 2020, and this could rise further thanks to trade union reforms in the Employment Rights Act 2025.