Statutory Readiness Sandbox

Public prototype · v1.0

The transition map

The Employment Rights Act 2025 changes how trade unions organise, ballot and reach workplaces in Great Britain. The changes do not arrive at once: they arrive in stages, each switched on by its own legal instrument, and some of those instruments are not yet law. This page tracks the four changes that matter for union operations — what each one is, its true legal stage, and the primary source behind every claim. Dates below are timetable expectations, not appointments; every target carries its formal state at the same weight as its date.

Page verified 12 July 2026Verified 12 Jul 2026 · 5 sources · 1 recorded gap

Every legal claim on this page renders from the evidence register — its source passage, pinpoint citation and verification state included.

  1. Trade union recognition reforms

    In force

    In force since 6 April 2026 · made instrument

    The one change already operating: the recognition reforms in the Employment Rights Act 2025. Applications received by the Central Arbitration Committee before 6 April 2026 run under the old rules.

    The Employment Rights Act 2025's trade union recognition reforms (section 60, with the specified provisions of Schedule 6) came into force on 6 April 2026, under a made commencement instrument, subject to transitional provisions for recognition applications received by the Central Arbitration Committee before that date.

    Formal state

    In forceoperative law, now

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 10 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Made instrument · The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/323), reg. 3(1); recognition at reg. 3(26)-(27)

    Show supporting passage
    “3.—(1) The provisions of the 2025 Act specified in the following paragraphs of this regulation come into force on 6th April 2026, subject to the transitional provisions in regulations 5 and 6.”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/323), reg. 3(1); recognition at reg. 3(26)-(27). This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 10 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/recognition-reforms-commencement

    Unions applying for recognition no longer need to show, at the point of application, that a majority of workers would be likely to favour recognition:

    Unions applying for statutory recognition no longer need to show, at the time of application to the Central Arbitration Committee, that a majority of workers in the relevant bargaining unit would be likely to favour recognition of the union.

    Formal state

    In forceoperative law, now

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 12 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Made instrument · The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/323), Explanatory Note

    Show supporting passage
    “the 2025 Act, which amend Schedule A1 to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”), so that unions applying for recognition will no longer be required to show, at the time of application to the Central Arbitration Committee, that a majority of workers in the relevant bargaining unit would be likely to favour recognition of the union.”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/323), Explanatory Note. This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 12 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/recognition-majority-support-test-removed

    And in a ballot to approve recognition, a majority of those voting is now sufficient on its own — the further requirement that this majority also comprise at least 40 per cent of all workers in the bargaining unit is removed:

    In a ballot to approve trade union recognition, it is sufficient that a majority of those voting support recognition; it is no longer required that this majority also comprise at least 40 per cent of the workers in the bargaining unit.

    Formal state

    In forceoperative law, now

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 12 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Made instrument · The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/323), Explanatory Note, description of regulation 6(b)

    Show supporting passage
    “in a ballot to approve recognition of a union, it is sufficient that a majority of those voting support recognition and it is no longer required that the majority comprises at least 40 per cent of the workers in the bargaining unit”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · The Employment Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/323), Explanatory Note, description of regulation 6(b). This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 12 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/recognition-ballot-simple-majority

  2. Electronic and workplace balloting

    Laid — not yet in force

    Target: August 2026 · government timetable; approval by both Houses and the making of the Order outstanding

    Statutory union ballots — industrial action, executive elections and the rest — can currently run only by post. A draft Order and Code of Practice, laid on 22 June 2026, add electronic, hybrid and (for industrial action only) workplace voting. The government's published timetable puts this change in August 2026.

    The government's published implementation timetable schedules electronic and workplace balloting for August 2026, and the duty to inform and strengthened right of access for October 2026 — subject to the required parliamentary approval and commencement steps.

    Formal state

    Planned — not yet commencedgovernment timetable only — no text yet

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 10 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Government timetable · Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update (GOV.UK policy paper, updated 15 April 2026), "Timetable for changes being introduced in 2026"

    Show supporting passage
    “Measures that will take effect in August 2026 electronic and workplace balloting for Statutory Trade Union Ballots Measures that will take effect in October 2026 The trade union measures include: the duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union strengthening trade unions’ right of access”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update (GOV.UK policy paper, updated 15 April 2026), "Timetable for changes being introduced in 2026". This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 10 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/era-implementation-timetable

    On 8 July 2026 a House of Commons committee approved both the draft Order and the draft Code. That is a real step, not the last one: approval by both Houses and the formal making of the Order are still outstanding, which is why this change is "expected", not "in force". The committee division also put the political disagreement on the record — the Opposition voted against, consistent with its stated policy on the Act's trade union provisions.

    The draft Order and Code of Practice enabling electronic and workplace balloting were approved by a House of Commons delegated legislation committee, with recorded opposition.

    Formal state

    Matter of recordrecords an event, not a legal provision

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 10 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Parliamentary record · Hansard, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8 July 2026, Division 1 (repeated as Division 2 for the Code of Practice)

    Show supporting passage
    “The Committee divided: Ayes: 11 Noes: 4 Question accordingly agreed to.”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · Hansard, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8 July 2026, Division 1 (repeated as Division 2 for the Code of Practice). This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 10 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/balloting-committee-approval

    What the 8 July debate added

    Three follow-ons from the committee session are worth tracking because each one will eventually change this page:

    The government intends to expand the closed list of organisations legally permitted to act as independent scrutineers for statutory ballots.

    Formal state

    Announced intenta ministerial statement of intention

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 10 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Ministerial statement · Hansard, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8 July 2026, Kate Dearden MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade)

    Show supporting passage
    “In the coming months, we will progress work on updating that order to expand the list of named permitted scrutineers.”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · Hansard, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8 July 2026, Kate Dearden MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade). This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 10 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/balloting-scrutineer-list-expansion

    The government announced it intends to launch a senior oversight board — unions, businesses, scrutineers and cyber-security experts — to oversee the operation of electronic balloting in practice, within months of the 8 July 2026 committee debate.

    Formal state

    Announced intenta ministerial statement of intention

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 10 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Ministerial statement · Hansard, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8 July 2026, Kate Dearden MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade)

    Show supporting passage
    “As part of that, in the coming months we intend to launch a senior oversight board comprised of unions, businesses, scrutineers and cyber-security experts, who will share feedback on the operation of electronic balloting.”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · Hansard, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8 July 2026, Kate Dearden MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade). This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 10 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/balloting-oversight-board

    The draft balloting Order contains a statutory review clause: the Secretary of State must review the regulatory provision, report and publish; the first report is due within five years of commencement and subsequent reports at intervals of no more than five years.

    Formal state

    Laid — not yet in forceofficial text exists; not commenced

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 10 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Draft instrument · The Trade Unions (Permissible Means of Voting) and Employment Rights (Unfair Dismissal) (Amendment) Order 2026 (draft), Part 2, art. 11(3)-(4); the review duty itself is art. 11(1)

    Show supporting passage
    “(3) The first report must be published before the end of the period of five years beginning with the date referred to in article 1(3). (4) Subsequent reports must be published at intervals not exceeding five years.”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · The Trade Unions (Permissible Means of Voting) and Employment Rights (Unfair Dismissal) (Amendment) Order 2026 (draft), Part 2, art. 11(3)-(4); the review duty itself is art. 11(1). This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 10 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/balloting-review-clause

    The minister also confirmed the practical consequence unions feel first: electronic balloting runs on members' personal contact details, and gathering them comes before everything else.

    The minister confirmed in committee that unions will need to gather members' personal email addresses or mobile numbers before they can begin electronic balloting.

    Formal state

    Matter of recordrecords an event, not a legal provision

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 10 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Ministerial statement · Hansard, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8 July 2026, Kate Dearden MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade)

    Show supporting passage
    “As electronic ballots will require the use of personal email addresses or mobile numbers, unions will need to gather that information from their members before they commence.”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · Hansard, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8 July 2026, Kate Dearden MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade). This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 10 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/balloting-contact-data-ministerial-confirmation

    The ballot-readiness journey walks through what that — and the rest of the Code's requirements — will demand of a union's own data and systems, before any scrutineer gets involved.

  3. The workplace access right

    Laid — not yet in force

    Target: October 2026 · government timetable; formal steps outstanding

    A new statutory process by which an independent union can request physical and digital access to a workplace: a written request, an employer response within a fixed clock, a negotiation window, and referral to the Central Arbitration Committee if agreement fails. The Code of Practice governing it was laid before Parliament on 6 July 2026 and lies before both Houses until approved — it states the clock requirements intended to apply once the remaining formal steps are complete, not yet operative obligations.

    Corrected 6 Jul 2026Conclusion changed: Yes — every clock lengthenedledger entry

    The employer's response period ends at the end of the 15th working day after the day on which the access request is given (measured from when the request is given, not when it reaches the right person internally).

    Formal state

    Laid — not yet in forceofficial text exists; not commenced

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 10 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Official code of practice · Code of Practice: Right of trade unions to access workplaces (July 2026), para. 30

    Show supporting passage
    “Upon receipt of the application, the employer can take up to 15 working days from the day an access application is given (not when the request is passed on to the correct person or team within the employer) to respond to a request for access”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · Code of Practice: Right of trade unions to access workplaces (July 2026), para. 30. This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 10 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/access-response-period

    Corrected 6 Jul 2026Conclusion changed: Yes — every clock lengthenedledger entry

    The negotiation period ends at the end of the 25th working day after the day on which the response notice is given.

    Formal state

    Laid — not yet in forceofficial text exists; not commenced

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 10 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Official code of practice · Code of Practice: Right of trade unions to access workplaces (July 2026), para. 36

    Show supporting passage
    “The trade union and the employer have 25 working days following the day on which the response notice is given to negotiate the terms of an access agreement.”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · Code of Practice: Right of trade unions to access workplaces (July 2026), para. 36. This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 10 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/access-negotiation-period

    Corrected 6 Jul 2026Conclusion changed: Yes — every clock lengthenedledger entry

    The period for applying to the Central Arbitration Committee ends at the end of the 55th working day after the day the original request was given — an envelope over the whole process, not a third sequential window. The CAC may extend the period to 70 days where it considers it was not reasonably practicable to apply within the time limit.

    Formal state

    Laid — not yet in forceofficial text exists; not commenced

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 10 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Official code of practice · Code of Practice: Right of trade unions to access workplaces (July 2026), para. 44

    Show supporting passage
    “Parties who are unable to reach agreement have 55 working days from the date the original access request was given to make an application to the CAC. It might be possible for the CAC to extend that to 70 days where it considers that it was not reasonably practicable for a party to apply for a determination under section 70ZE within the time limit.”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · Code of Practice: Right of trade unions to access workplaces (July 2026), para. 44. This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 10 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/access-cac-referral-period

    The full walkthrough of this process is this site's deepest journey: the happy path from drafting to signed agreement and the branches — refusal, silence, and the referral to the Central Arbitration Committee — are available now, alongside the deadline calculator, which turns any request date into the real deadlines that follow from it.

  4. The duty to inform new workers

    No instrument located (as of 24 August 2026)

    Target: October 2026 · government timetable — but the regulations are unpublished

    Every employer will have to tell each new worker, in writing, that they have the right to join a union. The government's timetable puts this in October 2026 — but the regulations that will give it legal shape have not yet been published, so everything about its detail is provisional. This site records that absence rather than guessing:

    The joining journey shows an invented modern join flow annotated with exactly where this duty could connect to it, once it exists.

  5. Electronic voting for recognition and derecognition ballots

    Announced intent

    Announced for 2027 · ministerial intention; out of scope for this site until instruments exist

    Recognition and derecognition ballots are excluded from the first phase of electronic and workplace balloting; the government stated it will extend electronic and hybrid voting options to them in 2027, as the second phase of a phased approach to delivery.

    Formal state

    Announced intenta ministerial statement of intention

    Verification

    VerifiedJK · 11 Jul 2026— method below

    Authority

    Ministerial statement · Hansard, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8 July 2026, Kate Dearden MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade)

    Show supporting passage
    “That is why we are taking a phased approach to delivery. In phase 1, the new methods will be made available across all statutory trade union ballots, with the exception of statutory recognition and derecognition ballots. In phase 2, we will extend the electronic and hybrid voting options in 2027 to recognition and derecognition ballots.”

    Quoted verbatim from the identified source · Hansard, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 8 July 2026, Kate Dearden MP (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade). This authored restatement is published exactly as recorded in the evidence register.

    Pinned extract matched at build · External source checked 11 July 2026 · How verification works

    fact/recognition-evoting-2027-phase-two

The control matrix takes every obligation the four changes above create and maps it onto five recurring burden types — data quality, audit evidence, controlled documents, time windows, and regulated third parties — in one table, downloadable and built to print.

How this page stays honest

Every claim above traces to the versioned evidence register, each entry carrying a verbatim quote from its source document and a pinpoint reference; an automated check fails this site's build if any quote stops matching its source. The public corrections log records what this site got wrong and fixed.