Trade Union Recognition

What is Trade Union Recognition?

Trade union recognition is a formal acknowledgement by an employer that a trade union represents a large proportion of the workforce. This is often referred to as a bargaining unit.

Recognition gives a union the ability to engage in collective bargaining, which allows them to negotiate directly with the employer over key working conditions.

Where an employer refuses to recognise a trade union voluntarily, the union has the ability to apply to the Central Arbitration Committee to obtain statutory recognition. They need to show they have 10% membership of the proposed bargaining unit and are likely to have a majority in the subsequent trade union ballot. In order to win, it must then obtain a majority in a recognition ballot and 40% of the workforce in the proposed bargaining unit must support union recognition.

These requirements can make it challenging for unions to gain recognition, particularly where their employer is hostile to trade unions. The early requirement (i.e. on initial application) to demonstrate a likely majority in the recognition ballot risks preventing unions from obtaining recognition where they would nonetheless have later gone on to meet the requirements. The Government described this requirement as posing a ‘significant hurdle in modern workplaces which are increasingly fragmented’.

Occasionally, these circumstances can be worsened where employers adopt unfair practices (e.g. hiring employees on a large scale) in an attempt to negatively impact the recognition process.

What’s changing?

In April 2026, the Employment Rights Act 2025 (‘ERA 2025’) proposes to simplify the requirements for recognition:

• Unions would only need a simple majority of those voting in trade union recognition ballot; and
• Unions would only need to show the Central Arbitration Committee that they have 10% membership of the proposed bargaining unit for their application for recognition to be accepted by the Central Arbitration Committee.

A power will also be provided to enable Ministers to issue affirmative secondary regulations to vary the 10% threshold, within parameters of 2% to 10%.

The Government also proposes reform in relation to access and unfair practices during the recognition process. In order to bring this about, the ERA 2025 seeks to extending legislation and Code of Practice on access and unfair practices during recognition and derecognition ballots to apply from the point where the Central Arbitration Committee accepts a trade union application.

5 working days will be allowed after the close of the recognition ballot for complaints to be submitted to the Central Arbitration Committee and they will no longer need to consider the effect of any unfair practice.

New recruits will not be considered for the purposes of the recognition process following submission of a recognition application to the Central Arbitration Committee and non-independent unions will be prevented from blocking an independent union’s recognition application.

What does this mean?

The proposed reforms will make it easier for unions to gain recognition, even where their employer is unwilling to offer this voluntarily and engages in practices such as mass hiring. Additionally, they will extend the unions ability to raise successful complaints about unfair practices.

To manage the risk of complaints, employers should ensure they keep abreast of any developments in legislation and the Code of Practice on access and unfair practices, and follow the requirements during recognition and derecognition processes.

If you would like to discuss anything raised in this blog, please contact a member of the Employment team.

To find out what other aspects of employment law are affected by the ERA 2025, read our blog “The Employment Rights Act – When to expect change”.

We publish blogs and social media posts to give a general overview of legal and commercial issues, relevant at the time of publication, which we hope you will find interesting. Please note that legal rules often change depending on the specific facts of a situation. The law also changes over time following changes in legislation or new court cases. We do not actively update our blogs or posts once they are published to reflect changes in the law.