Employment Edit: 23 July 2026

Legal updates

Trade union access

The government has confirmed that the new statutory right for trade unions to access workplaces will come into force on 30 October 2026. The new regime could affect all employers as, significantly, a trade union will be able to make a request for access even where it is not recognised by the employer and it has little or no existing membership or presence within the workforce. It is important that all employers get up to speed with the new right and consider how they would respond if they received an access request.

To help, we’ve broken down the key information that employers need to know – in this article, we explain what constitutes “access”, how trade unions can make a request, how employers can respond, and how the new regime will be enforced where disputes arise. We also discuss some next steps that HR teams should consider taking. If you would prefer an at-a-glance update, why not check out this blog post on the new right.

Right to work check expansion

Important changes to the UK’s right to work regime come into force on 1 October 2026.

Under the current regime, an organisation is only required to carry out right to work checks for its own employees. From 1 October 2026, the regime will be expanded to include an obligation on employers to carry out right to work checks on a much broader group of individuals, including:

• workers (such as casual workers and zero hours workers);
• some individual contractors and sub-contractors (which could, in some circumstances, include certain agency workers); and
• those providing work or services through an ‘online matching service’ that connects individual service providers with customers or clients (e.g. gig economy workers).

If a relevant individual is found to be working illegally, the employer could face substantial civil penalties (of up to £60,000 per illegal worker), and in more serious cases, director disqualification, or criminal sanctions. To protect itself against such liability, the employer needs to establish what is known as the “statutory excuse” which it usually does by carrying out the prescribed right to work checks before employment commences.

The new regime introduces the concept of “extended liability”, which means that liability for a civil penalty may extend beyond the direct employer to another organisation within a contractual chain, for example where services have been sub-contracted. Where extended liability applies, the relevant organisation can establish a statutory excuse through meeting various “prescribed requirements”, including specific contractual provisions and onboarding arrangements.

Ahead of the changes coming into force, the government has updated its code of practice on preventing illegal working and an employer’s guide to right to work checks. These are both currently in draft.

Ahead of 1 October 2026, employers should carefully review workforce arrangements to identify any workers, contractors, sub-contractors, consultants, freelancers or other non-traditional workers who fall within the expanded right to work regime and update existing onboarding and engagement processes to ensure that they include compliant right to work checks for relevant individuals. Where relevant, employers should also review contractual arrangements with labour providers, agencies and contractors, and consider whether any amendments may be required.

Single sex services

The updated code of practice for service providers, public functions and associations (which provides guidance on relevant obligations under the Equality Act 2010) recently completed a 40-day parliamentary scrutiny period and will replace the existing code on 5 August 2026.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) updated the code to reflect developments in legislation and case law over more than a decade, including to reflect case law on the threshold for a philosophical belief to be protected and the Supreme Court’s judgment on the Equality Act definition of ‘sex’ in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers. Updates include further guidance on considerations that may be relevant to determining the proportionality of providing separate and single sex services, as well as the circumstances in which the provision of mixed-sex services may be appropriate.

Whilst the code applies to service providers (as opposed to employers) elements of the code may also provide guidance for employers in considering their obligations and approach to the provision of workplace facilities.

Equal pay and pay transparency

Last week, the government launched consultation into equal pay and pay discrimination. In the consultation, the government outlines its plan to improve the current system that protects against pay discrimination (through preventative measures and effective enforcement) before then expanding such protections to guard against discrimination on the basis of race or disability. The consultation will close on 27 October 2026.

One of the preventative measures outlined in the consultation is a proposed requirement for employers to publish pay information (such as salary or salary ranges) in job adverts or, where such information is not contained in the advert, in writing to the candidate before interview. The idea being that greater pay transparency would reduce the likelihood of pay discrimination happening in the first place as it would encourage consistency when setting pay.