Trade union workplace access: what employers must do from 30 October 2026

What has changed

The Trade Unions (Right to Access Workplaces) (Required Information) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/756) were made on 6 July 2026 and come into force on 30 October 2026. They are made under sections 70ZB, 70ZD, 70ZG, 70ZN and 293(1) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

Those sections are part of Chapter 5ZA of the 1992 Act, which was inserted by section 59 of the Employment Rights Act 2025. Chapter 5ZA gives an independent trade union a route to request access to a workplace — either physical entry, or contact with workers by other means — in order to meet, represent, recruit or organise them.

SI 2026/756 does not create the right of access itself. It does something narrower and, for employers, more immediately practical: it prescribes what a valid access request must contain, and what your response notice must contain. It also sets out how either side notifies the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) once an access agreement is reached, varied or revoked.

What a union's access request must contain

Regulation 3 sets out what a qualifying trade union has to include. A request must be in writing and dated, and must:

• identify the union and its certificate of independence;
• give contact details for the official making the request and for those authorised to negotiate on the union's behalf;
• state that it is made under section 70ZB(1) of the 1992 Act;
• specify the access purposes, and describe the workers it is aimed at;
• describe the nature of the access sought — the occasions, whether it involves physical entry, or communication with workers by other means;
• explain the reasons for the request;
• identify the workplaces concerned;
• set out any assistance being asked of the employer, the frequency and duration of access, and the notice periods proposed;
• for a repeat request, refer to the terms previously agreed.

A request that does not contain these elements is not a valid request under section 70ZB(1). Check a request against this list before you treat the clock as running.

What your response notice must contain

Regulation 4 is the employer-facing part of the instrument. Your response must be in writing, dated, and given to the union contact named in the request. It must:

• give your details and the details of the people authorised to negotiate on your behalf;
• state that it is given under section 70ZB(4) of the 1992 Act;
• say clearly whether you agree or do not agree to the access sought.

If you agree, the notice must also give workplace contacts, the categories of worker concerned and how many there are, confirmation of the workplaces and the times at which access would be suitable, and whether the assistance the union asked for is available.

If you do not agree, the notice must explain your reasons, and refer to any negotiations already under way with a competing trade union.

A bare refusal will not meet regulation 4. Neither will silence. If the matter reaches the CAC, your response notice is the document that shows what you offered and on what grounds you declined.

The 21-worker threshold

Any employer can receive an access request, and the response notice duty in regulation 4 applies whatever your size. What size changes is the endpoint: the CAC cannot impose an access agreement on an employer that employs fewer than 21 workers, counted across all of their workplaces.

For a business under that threshold, access remains a matter of agreement. That does not remove the duty to answer a request properly and on time — it means the CAC route ends in a decision that cannot be imposed on you.

Reaching an agreement, and telling the CAC

Where you and the union negotiate an access agreement, regulation 5 allows either party to notify the CAC that an agreement has been entered into under section 70ZD(1). The notification must be in writing, dated, signed by both parties, and accompanied by a copy of the agreement.

Regulation 6 deals with changes. If you later vary or revoke an access agreement, the parties must notify the CAC jointly — in writing, dated and signed by both — stating that the change is made under section 70ZG. For a variation you must also supply the original terms being changed and a copy of the amended agreement.

Keep the signed agreement, the notification and any variation together. The joint-signature requirement means you cannot vary an access agreement unilaterally and record it as done.

What to do before 30 October

1. Decide who receives an access request and who answers it. A request can arrive at any workplace. Name the person responsible for recognising one, and a deputy, so a request does not sit unopened in a site inbox.

2. Nominate your negotiators now. Regulation 4 requires the response notice to name the people authorised to negotiate for you. Agree who they are before a request arrives rather than after.

3. Prepare the facts a response notice needs. If you agree to access you must state the categories of worker concerned and how many there are, confirm the workplaces, and identify suitable times. Know where that data lives and who can produce it quickly.

4. Draft a response notice template. Build one covering both outcomes — agreement and disagreement — with the regulation 4 elements as headings. A template written calmly in September is better than one written against a deadline.

5. Read the statutory Code of Practice. A revised draft was laid before Parliament on 6 July 2026 and sets out how access is expected to work in practice. Detailed government guidance is expected in September 2026.

6. Brief your managers. Site and store managers are the people most likely to be approached first. They need to know that a request is a formal legal step with a written answer attached, and who to pass it to.