Trade union workplace access: time limits, refusal grounds and penalties from 30 October 2026

What has changed

The Trade Unions (Right to Access Workplaces) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/1101) were approved by both Houses of Parliament and made on 15 October 2026. They come into force on 30 October 2026. They are made under Chapter 5ZA of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, which was inserted by section 59 of the Employment Rights Act 2025.

From 30 October 2026 the whole access framework is law at once:

• section 59 of the Employment Rights Act 2025, which gives an independent trade union the right to ask for access to a workplace, is brought fully into force by regulation 3(e) of SI 2026/1065;
• SI 2026/756 sets out what an access request and your response notice must contain;
• SI 2026/1101 sets the time limits, the grounds for refusing access, the terms the CAC must treat as reasonable in an access agreement and the penalties;
• the statutory Code of Practice: Right of trade unions to access workplaces comes into effect, under SI 2026/1103.

Access can mean physical entry to a workplace, or meeting and communicating with workers by other means. A request can be made to any employer. Whether the CAC can impose access depends on your headcount.

The time limits

All the periods are counted in working days. Regulation 2 defines a working day as any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a bank holiday.

• Response period (regulation 3). To count, your response notice must be given to the union by the end of the 15th working day after the day the access request is given to you. That is about three calendar weeks. If you do not respond in time, you cannot reach a negotiated agreement under section 70ZD of the 1992 Act and the union can apply straight to the CAC.
• Negotiation period (regulation 4). If you and the union are negotiating, that period ends at the end of the 25th working day after the day your response notice is given.
• CAC application period (regulation 5). If you do not give a response notice in time, the union can apply to the CAC for a determination. If you respond but no agreement is reached by the end of the negotiation period, either you or the union can apply. The application must be made by the end of the 55th working day after the day the access request was given. The CAC can accept an application up to the 70th working day if it is satisfied that applying earlier was not reasonably practicable.

The clock starts from the day the request is given, not the day it reaches the right person. Record the date each request arrives.

When the CAC must refuse access

Regulation 6 lists the cases in which the CAC must decide that union officials are not to have access.

Fewer than 21 workers (regulation 7). The CAC must refuse access if you, together with any associated employers, employ:

• fewer than 21 workers on the day you receive the access request, and
• an average of fewer than 21 workers over the 13 weeks ending with that day.

To find the average, add up the number of workers employed in each of the 13 weeks (including workers who were not employed for the whole week) and divide by 13. Both tests must be met. Workers of an associated employer in a company incorporated outside Great Britain are ignored unless they ordinarily worked in Great Britain at the time. When counting, an agency worker who does not have a contract of employment with the temporary work agency is treated as having one for the length of their assignment.

The CAC must also refuse access where:

• it considers refusal necessary in the interests of national security (regulation 8);
• it considers refusal necessary to prevent, detect or prosecute criminal offences (regulation 9);
• the proposed agreement would allow access on the day of the CAC's determination or in the 5 working days after it, or allows both physical and other access without saying which the first occasion will be (regulation 10);
• the proposed agreement does not end automatically within 2 years. It can provide for an extension by agreement between you and the union (regulation 11).

When the CAC may reasonably refuse access

Regulation 12 sets out cases in which a CAC decision to refuse access is to be regarded as reasonable:

• Overlapping arrangements (regulation 13). At least one worker covered by the request is already covered by your recognition of another qualifying trade union (where you do not recognise the union making the request), by a statutory recognition request that is still in progress under Schedule A1 to the 1992 Act, or by an access agreement you already have with a qualifying trade union.
• Multiple requests (regulation 14). Another access request to you covering at least one of the same workers is still outstanding.
• Health and safety (regulation 15). The CAC considers that access might put anyone's health or safety at risk.

If any of these applies to you, set it out in your response notice. The notice is the record of the grounds on which you declined.

What the CAC will take into account

When deciding an application, regulation 16 requires the CAC to consider, where relevant:

• your existing arrangements for visitors to the workplace;
• the type of workplace;
• whether the agreement needs safeguarding provisions;
• where access depends on a third party, whether you have contacted that third party and taken reasonable steps to get their co-operation.

The third-party point matters if you operate from premises someone else controls, such as a unit in a shopping centre, a shared office or a client's site. Contact the landlord or site owner early and keep a record of what you asked and what they said.

Terms the CAC will treat as reasonable

Regulations 17 to 24 set out terms that the CAC must treat as reasonable in an access agreement. Use them as the starting point for any agreement you negotiate.

Frequency. Access once a week does not unreasonably interfere with your business. Where an agreement allows both physical entry and other means, it can let the union choose which to use each week. A week must include at least four working days.

What you provide. You make available such existing accommodation and other facilities as is reasonable in the circumstances. You make sure, so far as reasonably practicable, that direct communications between workers and union officials are private.

What the union does. The union gives you at least 2 working days' notice before each occasion of access, and at least 5 working days' notice before the first. Where the agreement allows both physical and other access, the notice for each later occasion must say which it is, and the agreement itself must say which the first occasion will be. Union officials must comply with your reasonable instructions, which can include showing identification when asked.

What to do before 30 October

1. Make sure a request reaches the right person on the day it arrives. The 15 working days run from the day the request is given. Tell site, store and office managers who to pass a request to, and name a deputy.

2. Work out your headcount on both tests. Count workers across your business and any associated employers, on the day and as a 13-week average. If you are close to 21, know how you would show the figures to the CAC.

3. Check for overlapping arrangements. List any union you already recognise, any statutory recognition request in progress and any existing access agreement, and which workers each covers.

4. Review visitor, safeguarding and health and safety arrangements. These are the matters the CAC will look at. Decide what instructions you would give a union official, including asking for identification.

5. Contact third parties who control your premises. If access would need a landlord's or client's agreement, raise it with them now.

6. Read the Code of Practice. The Code of Practice: Right of trade unions to access workplaces comes into effect on 30 October 2026. It gives practical guidance on how access should work.