One of the main changes from the Employment Rights Act 2025 was a series of new duties and rights for Trade Unions, including a new duty on employers to inform workers of their right to join a Trade Union.
This was expected to come into force in October this year; however, there have been delays in the guidance for employers on what will be required. As such, the Government have now confirmed that the duty itself will be delayed until January 2027.
However, following a recent public consultation, the Government has provided some initial information on what will be expected from employers.
Namely, employers will be expected to provide a written statement that informs workers of their right to join a Trade Union. This will be standardised by the Government and must not be amended by the employer, except to add the specific workplace information.
The statement will include an explanation of union functions and statutory rights, along with a list of recognised Trade Unions (and a link to the Certification Officer’s list of Trade Unions) and statutory access agreements.
The statement must either be issued alongside the contract, or as part of the worker’s contract, and for existing workers they must have reasonable access to the statement.
If existing employees are given direct access to the statement (i.e., this is delivered via the employer), it must be done so annually by the 5th April each year. If this is going to be indirect (i.e., placed in a location available for staff to access), employers must still send out an annual reminder to staff on where this is located.
Furthermore, if there are any changes to the identity of any recognised unions or statutory access agreements, the statement will need to be reissued within one month of the change.
We shall update with further information once published on how to approach the issuing of the statement for new and existing employees.
If you’re not sure your contracts meet the trade union statement duty, contact Solutions for HR to review them.
Understand your trade union statement duty
The government is due to publish further guidance on issuing the statement to new and existing staff. Subscribe to our newsletter and we’ll update you as soon as it is released.