The new regime provides qualifying trade unions with a formal route to request access to workers for purposes including meeting with, supporting, representing, recruiting and organising workers, as well as facilitating collective bargaining. Access may be physical, digital or a combination of both and can apply even where an employer does not currently recognise a trade union.
Importantly, this is not simply a change for traditionally unionised workplaces. The wider direction of the reforms is towards making trade union engagement more accessible and more visible, meaning employers with little or no previous experience of union activity may increasingly find themselves engaging with trade unions.
Requests are already arriving
The significance of the change is already becoming apparent. We are seeing trade unions contacting employers with access requests under the new regime, including organisations that may previously have had limited experience of formal union engagement.
Employers receiving a request need to act quickly. Under the new framework, an employer has 15 working days to provide its response, and that response must be in writing and contain specified information. The parties then have a defined period in which to seek to negotiate access arrangements, with the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) able to become involved where agreement cannot be reached.
The CAC has now also published templates for trade union access requests, employer response notices and notifications of agreed access arrangements.
What should employers do now?
Employers should ensure they have a clear internal process for receiving and escalating access requests, identify who has authority to respond and negotiate arrangements, and consider in advance how physical and digital access could work across their organisation. Keeping accurate records of requests and responses will also be important.
Comment
The new right of access represents a significant practical change for employers. The fact that access requests are already being made reinforces the need to move from preparation to implementation. With relatively short statutory timescales, employers should make sure the right people know what to do when a request lands and that responses are coordinated, consistent and legally compliant.
