The Employment Rights Act 2025 creates a new duty for employers to give workers a written statement telling them they can join a trade union. The start date has moved from October 2026 to 1 January 2027 (expected).
The Employment Rights Act 2025 inserts a new duty into trade union law: employers must give their workers a written statement that they have the right to join a trade union. The Government will publish a standard statement, which employers may change only where required or permitted. The form, content and timing will be set out in regulations. The government originally planned an October 2026 start, but the Government’s date is now 1 January 2027, subject to regulations.
This is a separate statement. It sits alongside the written statement of particulars (the “section 1 statement”) that employers already give new starters, rather than being a clause you add to the employment contract.
Based on the government’s published proposals, the statement is expected to include:
Workers are not expected to be able to bring a stand-alone tribunal claim for a missing statement. But if a worker wins another tribunal claim and the employer has not complied, the tribunal must award 2 weeks’ pay, or may award 4, unless there are exceptional circumstances (a week’s pay is capped at £751 from 6 April 2026).
The Government will publish a standard statement that employers may not change, except to add the workplace information allowed. It had not been published on 5 November 2026, so do not draft your own. Collect now the names of any recognised unions and any union with a statutory access agreement, the staff each covers, and contact details for the union itself.
Add the statement to your new-starter pack so it goes out with the written statement of particulars.
Diary the expected 5 April 2027 deadline for current workers, and set an annual reminder if you use an intranet or noticeboard.
Already in force from 6 April 2026: day-one paternity leave and unpaid parental leave, and Statutory Sick Pay from the first day of sickness with the lower earnings limit removed. Coming 1 January 2027: the unfair dismissal qualifying period drops from 2 years to 6 months. The trade union statement is due to start on the same date, so it makes sense to update your employment documents for both at once.