The new duty to inform workers about trade unions: preparing for compliance

This article was co-authored with solicitor, Caitlin Alexander.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a new duty for employers to provide a written statement to workers about their right to join a trade union. The written statement will provide ‘clear, neutral’ information on the right to join a trade union alongside other information. 

Now expected to come into force in January (rather than October) all employers, not just those that recognise trade unions, will need to comply. 

The recent government response to the consultation, published on 25 September, on how employers should implement this duty explains more about how the new duty will work in practice. 

What information should the statement contain?

The duty requires employers to provide a statement to workers setting out:

• information on their right to join a trade union
• a brief explanation of union functions
• a list of, and information about, the employer’s own recognised trade unions and statutory access agreements (where applicable)
• the Certification Officer’s list of trade unions, attached to or linked from the statement; and
• a statutory rights summary. 

The government will produce a standardised statement containing the majority of this information for employers to provide to workers. The statement must not be amended except that employers will need to:

• list their own recognised trade unions and statutory access agreements, where applicable; and 
• include information on and contact details of the trade unions it recognises (including, where relevant, the staff groups, grades or locations covered where the listed union(s) does not apply to all workers). Employers will need to keep this information under review, as a change to a relevant union, its contact details or to a statutory access agreement will require an updated statement to be issued within one month.

When should workers be notified? 

Employers need to make sure that both new joiners and existing workers are provided with this statement. 

• new joiners: from January, an employer will need to provide the statement to any new recruit at the same time as they are provided with their written statement of employment particulars
• existing workers: employers can decide whether to provide the statement to workers directly or whether to make the statement available to workers indirectly. 

Where the employer chooses to provide the statement

• directly: the employer will need to send the statement to each worker by 5 April 2027 and then annually by 5 April
• indirectly: by 5 April 2027, employers will need to tell workers where the statement is available, keep the statement continuously and reasonably accessible and issue an annual reminder to workers (by 5 April each year) of where it can be found. 

It will be down to individual employers to decide which method of communication works best. Direct communication may be easier for some employers because once the statement has been issued no further input is required (unless the statement needs to be updated). 

However, other employers may find indirect communication easier to manage, for example where not all workers have email addresses. Where the statement is available indirectly, individuals must be told where the statement is located (such as a bulletin board or Intranet page) and it must remain continuously and reasonably accessible. For example, if a worker works remotely and does not attend the office it unlikely to be reasonable to keep the statement on a physical bulletin board at the employer’s HQ. 

Think carefully about where to locate the statement. If a statement that is indirectly available is moved, workers must be sent a written notification of the new location directly within a month, which may be difficult when workers are not easily contactable. 

Next Steps

The new duty is expected to bite in January so employers need to establish how they will comply.

Preparatory steps 

1. identify who/which team will be responsible for overall compliance
2. update recruitment and onboarding protocols to ensure new joiners will receive the statement at the correct time
3. for existing workers decide whether you will provide the statement directly or indirectly; and 
4. compile a list of your recognised trade unions (including the additional information as needed) and any access agreements – not forgetting the trade union contact details.

Ongoing compliance 

1) remember the duty has ongoing obligations requiring you to update workers annually so identify who will do that and how you will do that (the method will differ depending on whether you are notifying directly or indirectly); and

2) identify who will be responsible for updating and communicating out the statement if the recognised trade union/access agreements change (which they may do given the new right for trade unions to access workplaces comes into force on 30 October) or, if you are notify existing workers indirectly, if the location of the statement changes.

In time, this new duty should become part and parcel of everyday HR compliance – but there is preparation to be done – and, as always, the sooner you can make a start on this the better. When the government statement is available, we will update our Employment Rights Act hub accordingly. 

How we can help

If you would like to discuss how your organisation can prepare for these reforms, please contact Luke Bowery, Caitlin Alexander or your usual employment team contact.