Employment Rights Act 2025 - Changes to working with Trade Unions in force from 18 February 2026

Two months on from the Employment Rights Act 2025 receiving Royal assent, a number of key reforms relating to trade unions will come into force on 18 February 2026.

The key changes coming into force on 18 February are:

• Reduction to the notice period for industrial action from 14 days to 10 days
• Industrial action notices will be simplified
• Industrial action mandates will be valid for 12 months rather than six months
• Stronger protection from dismissal for those taking part in protected industrial action

A deeper dive into the key changes is set out below:

Reduction to the notice period for industrial action from 14 days to 10 days

A trade union has to provide an employer with notice of industrial action after is has secured a ballot mandate and before any such action is taken. 

From 18 February 2026 if a trade union is going to give notice of industrial action to an employer they will only be required to give 10 days’ notice instead of 14. This will only apply for notices given on or after 18 February.

This will make it easier for industrial action to be commenced at shorter notice. 

Industrial action notices will be simplified
No later than seventh day before the opening of a ballot, the union must send written notice of its intention to hold a ballot to all those that they reasonably believe to be an employer of anyone entitled to vote. 

From 18 February the amount of information that the union must provide in this notice is being simplified.  The notice of ballot must only contain:

• A list of the categories of employees being balloted.
• A list of the workplaces in which the employees work.
• The total number of employees concerned.

In addition to the above, the amount of information that a union is required to put on its ballot papers will be reduced. The law will revert to requiring a trade union to ask its members on the ballot paper which type of industrial action they want to take part in (i.e. whether this is strike action or action short of a strike).

Industrial action mandates will be valid for 12 months rather than 6 months

If a successful ballot takes place voting in favour of industrial action, currently the union member’s support for industrial action (the mandate period) will automatically expire six months after the date of the ballot, or if agreed between the employer and the union up to nine months. Once this mandate period has expired the union must hold a new ballot for industrial action.

Under the Employment Rights Act, the mandate period is being extended to 12 months, with no possibility of an extension. This will only apply to ballots opened on or after 18 February 2026. 

This is going to give trade unions a longer period in which to commence industrial action after a successful ballot.

Stronger protection from dismissal for taking part in protected industrial action

At the moment if an employee taking part in industrial action is dismissed then that dismissal will be automatically unfair if the reason for the dismissal was because they took part in protected industrial action and the dismissal took place within a “protected period” which is usually 12 weeks starting with the day they first took part in the industrial action. 

From 18 February, an employee taking part in industrial action will be protected for the full duration of the industrial action and after that action has finished. If an employee is dismissed because they took part in industrial action it will be automatically unfair. 

The additional protection will only apply to employees where they commenced industrial action on or after 18 February. If the industrial action started before this date the old law will continue to apply. 

If you are proposing to dismiss anyone taking part or who has taken part in protected industrial action, you should ensure that you have clear evidence of the reason for the dismissal and can demonstrate that it is unconnected to the industrial action. 

Nick Benton comments:

Employers who recognise a trade union will need to consider their industrial relations strategy and the strength of their relationship with the union in light of these changes, given that it is going to be easier and quicker for strike action to be commenced. Also, as this is just the first phase of a number of significant reforms to trade union law, all employers need to be prepared for an increase in union activity in the future.

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