Quick answer:
From 30th October 2026, independent trade unions in Great Britain can ask employers for access to their workplaces, in person or online, to meet and recruit workers. Employers have 15 working days to respond. For L&D, the priority is preparing managers for the conversations about unions, as well as the everyday ones that shape how people feel about work.
Something new for many managers
Ask a room of private sector managers when they last spoke to a union rep, and you might get a few blank looks. For plenty of organisations, trade unions are something that happens elsewhere: in the public sector, perhaps, or in the news.
That’s about to change. Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, unions gain a new right to request access to workplaces, including those where nobody is a member.
Most of the advice so far covers process, such as who replies, by when and on what terms. But many HR teams and line managers have never had a conversation with, or about, a union. Managers will field the questions from their teams, and their day-to-day relationships shape how heard employees feel.
We’ve set out what’s changing, why some employers don’t feel ready and where L&D can help.
What changes on 30th October 2026?
Subject to parliamentary approval, independent trade unions will have a new right to access workplaces and engage with workers across England, Scotland and Wales. There are three points from the new framework that particularly stand out:
- It applies with or without an existing union. A union can request whether or not any of your workers are members, and whether or not you recognise a union.
- Access can be physical, digital or both. Digital access could be an online meeting the employer sets up, or an email the employer sends on the union’s behalf.
- The size of your business matters. The Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), which decides cases where the two sides can’t agree, can impose access on employers with 21 or more workers.
The draft Code of Practice says access is there so unions can meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers, and to facilitate collective bargaining. It doesn’t cover organising industrial action.
Other union changes arrive on the same day, including stronger rights to paid time off and facilities for workplace representatives. Then, from 1st January 2027, employers must give workers a written statement of their right to join a union. New starters will receive it with their employment particulars, and existing staff by 5th April 2027.
The CIPD’s member resources include a useful preparation checklist for the October changes.
How does an access request work?
The draft Code of Practice lays out a clear timeline:
- The union sends a written request, usually by email.
- The employer has 15 working days to respond.
- Both sides then have 25 working days to negotiate an access agreement.
- If they can’t agree, either side can apply to the CAC, which decides whether access goes ahead and on what terms.
The 15 days start on the day the union sends its request, so it helps to give unions a named contact and an inbox that someone checks regularly. The Code encourages employers to publish those details on their website.
The Code starts from a presumption that access should take place, and treats weekly access as a “model” term. Where an employer keeps breaching an agreement, the CAC can issue penalties of up to £75,000, rising to £150,000 and then £500,000 for further breaches. It can also make those penalties public.
The capability gap
In 1980, Video Arts made a comedy film about an industrial dispute, When Will They Realise We’re Living in the Twentieth Century? Jack Rosenthal wrote it, and John Cleese played both the production director and the shop steward. Each tells the camera his side of the story, and the two versions rarely match. Union membership had peaked at 13.2 million a year earlier.
Today’s managers work in a different world. Only 12.1% of private sector employees belonged to a union in 2025, compared with 48.5% in the public sector. Plenty of managers have gone a whole career without meeting a union official. HR isn’t far behind. The CIPD notes that many of today’s HR professionals have little experience of working with trade unions.
Some employers are concerned about their readiness for the new legislation. In an Acas poll of 1,050 senior decision-makers, one in five said they weren’t confident about adapting to the new rules.
And there’s a wider issue underneath. CMI research found that 82% of managers who enter management positions haven’t had any formal management and leadership training. If most new managers get no formal training in managing people, we can’t expect them to know what to say when someone asks about joining a union.
What do managers need to know when a request arrives?
HR or a named lead would handle the request itself. Here’s what line managers need to be aware of:
- Where to send it. Any approach from a union goes to the named contact as soon as possible because the timeline starts when the request is sent.
- What to tell their team. People will ask what’s happening and whether they can go along. Managers should stick to the facts, stay neutral and pass on anything they’re unsure about. Workers who attend an agreed meeting in work time should be paid in full.
- What’s off limits. Under the Code, employers and their representatives must not attend an access meeting unless the union invites them. They shouldn’t listen in, question people about what was said or track who opened a union email. Managers also shouldn’t organise work so that people can’t attend.
- What the law already protects. Workers can’t be treated unfairly, or offered inducements, because of union membership or activity. “You don’t want to get involved in all that” is the kind of remark to avoid.
That’s a lot to get right from a standing start, and most of it comes down to tone. A policy document alone won’t prepare a manager for the moment someone asks, “Should I go to this meeting?”
What makes people feel heard at work?
In our 1980 film, the production director’s complaint is that nobody listens. The shop steward’s is that nobody tells him anything. More than 45 years on, both complaints still come up.
On the employer side, messages are competing for attention. In Gallagher’s 2026 Employee Communications Report, 83% of communications and HR professionals said information overload is a growing problem.
On the employee side, the CIPD’s Good Work Index 2026 found that a fifth of employees (20%) have no way at all to express their views at work, and that figure includes team meetings and one-to-ones. Among employees who aren’t union members, 24% would be interested in joining if they had the option. Interest was higher among people reporting job dissatisfaction, high workloads or conflict.
Whether or not people choose to join a union, they want to feel heard and to have a say in anything that impacts their work.
This isn’t about keeping unions out. Employees have a legal right to join one, and the Code is built on partnership between employers, workers and unions.
Pay, benefits and workloads matter too, and those decisions usually sit above line managers. But managers are the ones who explain them, hear the concerns and pass them on. Regardless of union status, these manager habits build a culture of trust, respect and openness:
- keeping in regular, meaningful contact with their teams
- consulting people on changes that affect them
- dealing with concerns and grievances promptly and fairly
- making sure decisions on pay, workloads and progression are fair and clearly explained
- encouraging feedback, listening with empathy and acting on it where they can
In unionised workplaces, the same habits apply, with reps as well as with team members.
Three practical steps for L&D
1. Brief managers before 30th October
The government’s preparation list tells employers to instruct HR teams and line managers on the new requirements.
Keep the briefing for managers short and specific (because people very rarely read a full policy document, let alone remember it). Cover who handles requests, what to pass on and what managers should and shouldn’t say.
2. Let managers practise the conversations
Reading the rules is one thing. Finding the right words while a team member waits for an answer takes practice.
Give managers the chance to rehearse likely moments like a team member asking whether they should join, someone worrying about being seen at a meeting or a union official needing a room during the busiest shift of the week. Scenario-based learning works best when managers recognise the situation and get asked what they’d do before they see a response. Practising in a safe space builds the confidence to respond in a calm, neutral way when it happens for real.
3. Build the skills into ongoing manager development
The briefing covers the rules, but relationship skills take longer to build. One-to-ones, feedback, performance and conflict conversations all need regular practice, and bite-sized learning makes that easier to fit around the day job.
The CIPD recommends line manager training around difficult conversations as part of managing conflict. It also says that giving managers “the time and training to manage staff well can make a considerable difference”.
A manager who has already practised explaining a pay decision or handling a grievance is better placed when someone asks about the union.
The takeaway
The new right gives unions a way into more workplaces. What they find there depends a great deal on the relationships between line managers and their teams.
For L&D, that means two priorities. Brief managers on the rules now, then keep building the skills that help people feel heard, with or without a union in the room.
Building those skills doesn’t have to feel like a chore. Our learning uses relatable scenarios, humour and a few famous faces to help managers build good working relationships. Here’s where to start:
- Management Conversations covers development, feedback, performance and conflict conversations.
- Talent Essentials covers talent reviews, reskilling and upskilling, so decisions about progression are fair and easy to explain.
- Our AI Coach gives managers a private space to practise difficult conversations before they have them for real.
Get in touch to talk about helping your managers prepare, or if you’d like us to create bespoke training for your teams.
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