According to legislation.gov.uk, the Trade Unions (Right to Access Workplaces) Regulations 2026 were made on 15 October 2026, approved by both Houses of Parliament and will come into force on 30 October 2026. The instrument extends to England and Wales and Scotland and sits within the workplace access framework inserted into the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 by the Employment Rights Act 2025. Its purpose is practical. Under the parent Act, access can mean physical entry to a workplace or communication with workers by other means. These regulations set the timetable for requests, define when the Central Arbitration Committee must or may refuse access, and identify terms that the Committee must treat as reasonable when settling an access agreement.
The first change is procedural. Once a qualifying trade union gives an access request, the employer has 15 working days to respond. If the employer issues a response notice, the parties then have 25 working days to negotiate an agreement. If no agreement is reached, an application to the Central Arbitration Committee would normally need to be made by the end of the 55th working day after the original access request. That can extend to the 70th working day where the Committee is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for a party to apply earlier. The definition of a working day is also prescribed and excludes weekends, Christmas Day, Good Friday and bank holidays.
The regulations then set out circumstances in which the Central Arbitration Committee must refuse access. One of the most important is employer size. Access must be refused where the employer, together with any associated employer or employers, has fewer than 21 workers on the day the request is received and has averaged fewer than 21 workers over the previous 13 weeks. The counting rules are detailed. Agency workers on assignment are treated as having a contract of employment with the temporary work agency for this purpose. Workers employed by associated employers outside Great Britain are only counted where they ordinarily work in Great Britain, with separate provision for certain workers on UK-registered ships. In effect, the small-employer threshold is intended to be tested across the wider associated-employer structure, but with limits on who is brought into the calculation.
Mandatory refusal also applies in a narrower set of cases. The Central Arbitration Committee must refuse access where it considers exclusion necessary in the interests of national security, or necessary for the prevention, detection or prosecution of criminal offences. There are also drafting rules for proposed agreements. Access must be refused if the proposed agreement would allow union officials to have access during the five-working-day notice period immediately after a Committee determination. Refusal is also required if an agreement allowing both physical and non-physical access does not say whether the first occasion of access will involve physical entry, or if the agreement does not expire automatically within two years, subject to any later extension agreed under the parent Act.
A separate part of the instrument deals with cases where refusal is to be regarded as reasonable. That includes situations where access would create overlapping arrangements, such as where another qualifying union is already recognised for collective bargaining, where a statutory recognition request remains live, or where an existing access agreement already covers at least some of the same workers. The same approach applies where there are multiple outstanding access requests to the same employer and at least some workers fall within the scope of more than one request. Health and safety is another express ground. If the Committee considers that union access might jeopardise the health or safety of any person, refusal is again to be treated as reasonable. For regulated, secure or operationally sensitive sites, that provision is likely to matter as much as the headline access right itself.
When disputes reach the Central Arbitration Committee, the regulations require it to look at the practical setting as well as the legal test. It must have regard, where relevant, to existing visitor arrangements, the type of workplace involved, whether safeguarding terms are needed, and whether the employer has taken reasonable steps to secure the co-operation of any third party whose assistance is needed for access to happen. The instrument also sets benchmark terms that the Committee must regard as acceptable. Weekly access is deemed not to unreasonably interfere with an employer's business. Depending on the agreement, that can mean physical entry once every week, non-physical contact once every week, or a weekly choice between the two where the agreement allows both. A week for these purposes must include at least four working days.
Further default terms are aimed at making access workable. The Committee must treat it as reasonable for an employer to provide such existing accommodation and facilities as are reasonable in the circumstances. It must also treat privacy for direct communications between workers and union officials, so far as reasonably practicable, as a reasonable step for the employer to take. On notice, the baseline rule is at least two working days before each occasion of access. The first occasion can be subject to a longer minimum notice period of five working days. Where an agreement allows both physical entry and communication by other means, the union's notice must say which route will be used. The regulations also state that it is reasonable for a union official to be required to comply with all reasonable employer instructions, including showing identification when asked.
Enforcement is backed by significant financial penalties. The first order made by the Central Arbitration Committee in relation to an access agreement cannot exceed £75,000. The second cannot exceed £150,000. The third or any later order can reach £500,000. When deciding the amount, the Committee must consider the gravity of the failure, how long it lasted, the reason for it, the number of workers affected, the size and resources of the person involved, and any previous failures to comply. The regime can apply not only to parties to an access agreement but, in some cases, to third parties that prevent access or fail to comply with a Committee order.
The explanatory note on legislation.gov.uk states that no full impact assessment has been produced because no significant impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen, although a de minimis assessment has been prepared. The regulations must also be reviewed by the Secretary of State within five years of commencement and at intervals of no more than five years after that. For unions, employers and advisers, the immediate effect is that the new workplace access right now has a defined operating code. From 30 October 2026, disputes will move on a fixed statutory timetable, with clearer rules on eligibility, overlap, privacy, notice, workplace controls and sanction levels.