Union Access Requests from October 2026 - The Employer's Procedure Guide

From 30 October 2026, subject to final parliamentary approval of the regulations, independent trade unions gain a statutory right to request access to workplaces, physically and digitally, under section 59 of the Employment Rights Act 2025. Where employers and unions cannot agree, the Central Arbitration Committee decides, and repeated non-compliance carries penalties of up to £500,000.

The mechanics run on fixed clocks, so the difference between a controlled response and a scramble is whether a procedure exists before the first letter arrives. This guide covers what the right includes, the timetable, the penalty ladder and the preparation worth doing now.

The Process at a Glance

The day-counts and penalty figures sit in draft regulations awaiting approval as this guide is published, so treat them as the government's confirmed design rather than final law until the regulations are made.

What the Right Covers, and What It Does Not

Access purposes are defined: meeting, supporting, representing, recruiting and organising workers, and facilitating collective bargaining. The Act is equally explicit about the exclusion, stating that access purposes do not include organising industrial action.

Access can be physical entry, digital communication with workers, or both, which is why intranets and internal forums are suddenly an industrial relations topic. The limits: no entry to dwellings, no personal data disclosure in breach of data protection law, and only unions holding a certificate of independence can ask.

The Request Clock Starts on Delivery

A valid request must state its purposes, the workers and workplaces covered, whether access is physical or digital, expected frequency and duration, and an explanation where several workplaces are grouped under one request. The employer's response notice, proposed at 15 working days, must agree or disagree in whole or in part, with an explanation for any disagreement.

Refusal is structured rather than free-form. The framework provides mandatory refusal grounds, including the under-21-worker exemption and national security, and discretionary grounds such as overlapping access arrangements and health and safety risks, so a response that simply says no invites the next stage.

Where Agreement Fails, the CAC Decides

If negotiation does not produce an access agreement, either side can take the question to the Central Arbitration Committee, which decides whether access happens and on what terms, applying access principles that balance the union's purposes against unreasonable interference with the business. Agreements can be varied or revoked through the same route, with appeals to the Employment Appeal Tribunal on points of law.

The government's consultation response lengthened every stage of the timetable from the original proposals, a concession to employers that also means the process, once started, runs for months rather than weeks.

The Penalty Ladder Climbs One Agreement

Enforcement is two-stage: a well-founded complaint to the CAC first brings a declaration and orders to comply, and continued or repeated non-compliance brings financial penalties. The proposed maxima escalate from £75,000 to £150,000 to £500,000 for further breaches under the same access agreement.

Because one agreement can cover multiple workplaces, breaches at different sites climb a single ladder rather than starting fresh each time, and the CAC will be able to publish the names of penalised parties. The factors in play include whether non-compliance was deliberate obstruction or genuine error, which is precisely what a documented procedure evidences.

Preparing Before October

Name an owner for union correspondence, with a deputy, so the response clock never runs against an unread inbox, and give them a short written procedure: validate the request, check the exemption and refusal grounds, decide the negotiating position and keep the file. The same wave of changes brings the duty to give workers a written statement of their right to join a union, covered in our right to join a union guide, so one owner can carry both.

Review the policies an access agreement will touch: visitor and site access procedures, CCTV and monitoring coverage of likely meeting spaces, and the rules for digital platforms a union might seek to use. Employers who dealt with workplace balloting consent in August will recognise the pattern, and our October 2026 checklist tracks the full set of changes landing together.

Employment Policy and Procedure Writers

Policy Pros writes the documents this regime touches: union access response procedures, trade union and industrial relations policies, visitor, CCTV and monitoring policies and the handbook wording that ties them together. Our HR policy writing service can add an access request procedure to your framework before the first request arrives.

If a union request would currently land on a desk with no procedure behind it, contact us for a free quote, or call 020 3951 2875.