Documents released by the government show overwhelming employer opposition to the union access proposals set out in the Employment Rights Act. Labour is obviously proceeding anyway…
1,210 respondents to the government consultation on trade union access to workplaces were employers out of 1,612 total:
Percentage of consultation respondents who disagreed with government proposals
Source: Making Work Pay: trade union right of access — Government Response, 8 April 2026
Firms will also be fined half a million pounds if they fail to give access to trade unions three times. Labour has made a commitment to review whether £500,000 is too low a fine…
Despite 95% of respondents opposing the weekly access model any union that requests it in physical or digital form will have their requests handled by a single-person CAC panel as opposed to a full hearing. Streamlined…
Unions will also get access to digital communications data – firms must “facilitate access through existing digital channels where this is appropriate.” While the ‘Fair Work Agency’ gets snooping powers under the Investigatory Powers Act…
Labour has also suggested withdrawing exemptions to compliance for companies with under 21 employees. In the consultation report:
“the government intends to make a targeted adjustment to the framework from 2027 so that statutory access provisions can apply in workplaces covered by a statutorily supported national bargaining frameworks. This will include the national bargaining frameworks in place in relation to adult social care and school support staff. This means that, in those cases, the sized-based exemption will not apply… we will conduct a review after implementation, assessing how the threshold is operating across sectors and whether any adjustments may be required to maintain effectiveness of the [access] framework.”
They’re coming for everyone…
Starmer said to Robert Peston this afternoon:
“I’m fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down on energy businesses bills go up and down on energy because of the actions of Putin or Trump across the world.”