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- Date:
- 3 June 2026
- Type:
- News
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.
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- Type:
- Employment law guide
Updated to reflect that the trade union access provisions under the proposed Good Jobs Bill in Northern Ireland will no longer apply to micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees.
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- Date:
- 20 May 2026
- Type:
- Commentary and insights
The Employment Rights Act 2025 contains many reforms to trade union-related workplace legislation. Employment lawyer and trade union relations specialist Nick Chronias recently presented a Brightmine webinar on the subject. Here he answers some of the questions he didn't have time to address during the session.
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- Date:
- 23 April 2026
- Type:
- Podcasts and webinars
In this 60-minute webinar, DAC Beachcroft employment law partner and trade union relations specialist Nick Chronias provides an overview of the April changes, which simplify the union recognition process, before focusing on the October reforms.
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- Type:
- Employment law guide
Updated to reflect the Government’s consultation on the draft statutory code of practice on trade unions' right of access into workplaces.
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- Type:
- How to
Various changes under the Employment Rights Act 2025 took effect on 6 April 2026. HR should begin planning for further reforms due to be introduced later in 2026.
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- Type:
- Employment law guide
Updated to reflect that the doubling of the collective redundancy protective award, under the Employment Rights Act 2025, applies to redundancy dismissals that take effect on or after 6 April 2026. HR teams should audit their collective redundancy processes, and provide relevant staff with refresher training on collective consultation obligations, given the significant financial penalties at stake.
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- Type:
- Employment law guide
The Government has granted the Secretary of State new powers, effective from 6 April 2026, to lower the union membership threshold required for recognition applications from 10% to no lower than 2%.
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- Type:
- Employment law guide
Measures simplifying the statutory recognition process come into effect on 6 April 2026. These include removing the requirement to show likely majority support at the application stage and removing the rule that 40% of the bargaining unit must vote in favour of recognition.
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- Type:
- Legal timetable
Updated to confirm that this uplift applies to redundancy dismissals that take effect on or after 6 April 2026. This gives HR clarity on exactly when their employer faces the danger of a higher protective award if it gets collective redundancy consultation wrong.