If a trade union contacted your business asking to speak to workers, visit your sites or communicate with employees digitally, would your team know what to do?
Trade union access rights are changing how unions can communicate with workers, both in person and digitally.
We can help you put clear processes in place, understand what the changes mean for your business and prepare your people to respond with confidence.
Could your business respond confidently?
A request could quickly raise questions such as:
- Who owns the response?
- Who can speak to the union?
- How should managers respond?
- How would access to your sites work safely?
- What should be shared with employees?
- When should legal advisers or senior leaders be involved?
These decisions are harder to make under pressure. Preparing now can help you avoid unclear responsibilities, inconsistent responses and decisions that increase legal or employee relations risk.
What is changing?
Subject to Parliamentary approval, new trade union access rights are expected to take effect from 30 October 2026.
Trade unions will be able to ask to visit workplaces, speak to workers and communicate with them digitally. Employers will also have a new duty to inform workers of their right to join a trade union.
The changes could have a particular effect on businesses with limited experience of working with unions, several sites or different union arrangements across their organisation.
Choose the support you need
You may be preparing for the new access rights, dealing with a request that has already arrived, or questioning whether your managers would know how to respond.
We can support you at each stage.
1. Are you ready for an access request?
Union Access Readiness Assessment
If a trade union access request arrived tomorrow, would everyone involved know what to do?
We can review your current position, identify gaps and help you put clear processes in place before you need to use them.
We will look at:
- your current union and employee relations position
- your workforce and site structure
- operational and safety requirements
- how physical and digital access could work
- who will take ownership and make decisions
- how requests will be assessed and handled
- whether your HR team and managers are prepared
- how you will communicate with your workforce
- any recognition or CAC risk
You will receive:
- a Union Access Readiness Report
- a priority action plan
- a practical Union Access Playbook
- a template Trade Union Access Policy
- template responses to access requests
- a template communication informing workers of their right to join a union
- a briefing for your HR and leadership teams
Make UK members: from £4,950 + VAT
Non-members: from £5,950 + VAT
This price applies to a lower-complexity, single-site business. If you operate across several sites or have more complex union arrangements, we will discuss the scope with you before providing a quotation.
2. Have you received an access request?
Union Access Response Service
If a request has already arrived, you may need to make decisions quickly about what happens next, who needs to be involved and how you respond to the union.
Our employment lawyers and employee relations specialists can work alongside you to assess the request and manage your response.
Depending on what you need, we can help you:
- assess the request and its legal implications
- decide who needs to be involved
- agree your response and negotiation position
- prepare for discussions with the union
- negotiate workable access arrangements
- communicate with your workforce and leadership team
- manage internal escalation
- understand any recognition or CAC risk
Make UK members: £1,750 + VAT per consultant day
Non-members: £2,100 + VAT per consultant day
The amount of support you need will depend on the urgency, number of sites and negotiation involved. We will also consider whether you need input from both legal and employee relations specialists.
3. Would your managers know what to do?
Leadership and Manager Simulation
A process may look clear on paper, but what happens when your managers have to use it?
We can put your team through a realistic union access situation and test how decisions would be made in practice. For example: It is 9.05am on Monday. HR receives a request for physical access to three manufacturing sites and digital communication with the workforce. What happens next?
Your team will work through the situation together, considering:
- who takes ownership
- what managers should say
- how site operations could be affected
- when legal or senior leadership input is needed
- how you will communicate with workers
- how discussions with the union should be handled
The session helps identify gaps before your team is dealing with a live situation, while giving managers greater clarity about their role and when an issue needs to be escalated.
It can also include introductory training for managers with limited experience of working with unions, covering their responsibilities, the language they should use and how their response could affect the wider union relationship.
Make UK members: £2,950 + VAT per in-company half-day
Non-members: £3,500 + VAT per in-company half-day
The price includes adapting the situation to your organisation, running the session and providing a practical debrief. Travel and venue costs may be charged separately.
What could you have in place?
The support you choose could help you put in place:
- clear responsibility for receiving and managing requests
- agreed decision-making and escalation routes
- workable arrangements for physical and digital access
- a documented process for assessing and negotiating requests
- consistent information for workers and managers
- managers who know what to say and when to seek help
- an agreed approach to working with unions
Do you need help with your wider union arrangements?
An access request may also highlight wider questions about how your business works with trade unions.
If needed, we can support you with:
- recognition agreements and processes
- collective bargaining and pay negotiations
- consultation arrangements
- working with unions across several sites
- difficult union relationships
- manager coaching
- industrial action planning and response
- Central Arbitration Committee proceedings
You can bring us in for a specific issue or work with us over a longer period as your union arrangements change.
Why work with us?
You will get practical support from people who understand both trade unions and manufacturing workplaces.
We know the realities of managing busy sites, maintaining safe operations and making decisions across different teams and locations. Our employment lawyers, HR consultants and employee relations specialists have experience of union recognition, collective bargaining, pay negotiations, industrial action and CAC proceedings.
Our policy specialists also speak directly with Government about the Employment Rights Act reforms. This helps us provide advice based on the legal position and the practical effect the changes may have on employers.
Talk to us about your current position
Tell us about your workforce, sites and existing union arrangements. We will discuss what is causing concern and which service is likely to be most useful.