The UK Employment Rights Act 2025: Duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union

Why I should read this?

The Employment Rights Act 2025 includes a new requirement on employers to provide a statement to new and existing workers of their rights to join a trade union. 

The Government has now published its response to its consultation on the duty, setting out the form, content, manner of delivery and frequency of the statement. The new obligation is now expected to come into force in January 2027 rather than 30 October 2026. Note that the right applies to England, Wales and Scotland but not Northern Ireland, where employment law is devolved. 

What do I need to know?

The details of the new duty will be set out in further regulations. However, the headline terms are as follows:

Form

• The government will provide a standardised statement for employers to use
• Employers will need to add details of any recognised trade unions or unions with statutory access agreements, including contact details in both cases
• They must also either include a link to the Certification Officer's list of trade unions or give workers a copy of that list with the statement

Content

• The statement will cover:
  • A brief overview of what trade unions do – standardised template
  • Details of any recognised trade unions, with their contact details – input by employer. Where a recognised union does not cover the whole workforce, employers will have to say which staff groups, grades or locations it covers. The contact details should be for the union itself and not a named individual
  • Details of any unions with statutory access agreements, with their contact details – input by employer. The contact details should be for the union itself and not a named individual
  • Information on the Certification Officer's list of trade unions – input by employer
  • A short summary of statutory rights relating to union membership – standardised template
• The standardised template will also say that unions may charge a membership fee, and it will make clear that workers can choose whether or not to join a trade union
• Employers can share further information through separate channels if they want to but cannot otherwise make any changes to the statement

Delivery and Frequency

• New workers must receive the statement directly, for example by email, in person or by post, at the same time as their written statement of employment particulars
• For existing workers, employers can deliver it directly or indirectly:
  • If they provide the statement directly, the statement must be reissued by 5 April the following year
  • If the statement is provided indirectly (for example through an intranet or noticeboard) the statement must stay continuously and reasonably accessible all year, and the employer must issue an annual reminder informing workers of the availability of the statement and where to find it by 5 April of the following year
• If there is a change to the recognised unions, the unions with access agreements or their contact details, an updated statement must be issued within one month
• If the statement is held indirectly and its location changes, workers must be told the new location in writing within one month

Enforcement 

• There will be no new regulatory regime and the duty will operate within existing employment law enforcement frameworks
• A failure to comply will be treated in the same way as a failure to provide written particulars of employment. This means that there is no freestanding claim for simply failing to provide the statement. A claim would only be successful if the worker was also successful in a substantive employment tribunal claim and the employer was still in breach of the duty when the proceedings commenced. Where the tribunal finds a breach, it must award two weeks’ pay (capped at the statutory one week’s pay, currently £751) although it can award up to four weeks’ pay if it considers it just and equitable

What should I do?

Although the delay in implementation date is to be welcomed, employers should start preparing for the changes now.

Employers should audit their onboarding processes to ensure that the statement is ready to be issued to all new workers alongside their written statement of employment particulars from the commencement date in January 2027. They should also plan how they will be providing the statement to existing workers (directly or indirectly) by 5 April 2027.

Employers should also map all recognised trade unions and any unions with statutory access agreements, identifying the staff groups, grades and locations they cover, and obtaining current contact details for each union (not named individuals).

Processes should be established / reviewed to help identify any changes to the identity of a recognised union, union holding a statutory access agreement, or their contact details, given the requirement to provide an updated statement within a month of such changes. 

Managers and HR teams should be trained on the new duty and the importance of remaining neutral. Conduct that could be seen as being discouraging trade union membership could give rise to a separate trade union membership detriment claim. 

Employers should monitor for the publication of the final regulations, the standardised template and any non-statutory guidance. Once the final form is confirmed, employers will need to act quickly.