“2025 has been a year of significant political and legal change,” says Adam Creme, UNISON’s director of legal services.
“After our hard work and lobbying, the Employment Rights Act will introduce significant legal protections for the workers we represent. Our legal wins in the past year also show that UNISON is committed to transforming the legal landscape to obtain justice for workers.”
Here’s a recap of UNISON’s legal wins for workers in the past year.
Fighting racism and discrimination
On behalf of union member Rupi Phullar, UNISON’s legal services won a discrimination case against Ofsted in the employment appeal tribunal (EAT) last year. The EAT found that Rupi had been unfairly dismissed from her job as an Ofsted inspector and discriminated against on the grounds of her disability. The EAT was clear about Ofsted’s terrible treatment of her.
This came hot on the heels of a previous victory against Ofsted earlier in 2025, when UNISON acted for Andrew Hewston, an Ofsted inspector who was unfairly dismissed for brushing water off a child’s head. The Court of Appeal judges said it was “deeply regrettable” that this “experienced inspector with an unblemished record on safeguarding issues” had been unjustifiably sacked by Ofsted.
UNISON senior legal officer Bruce Robin, commented: “This case addressed a very common problem for UNISON members and activists – namely, where an employer dismisses for gross misconduct without first using common sense about what has happened.”
It is not often that a race claim goes all the way to the Court of Appeal, but it did when UNISON successfully acted for Bindu Parmar (pictured below), a senior social worker who was subjected to racial discrimination by Leicester City Council. The Court of Appeal was clear that Bindu’s suspension and baseless disciplinary investigation were based on her race.
Employment Rights Act 2025
The Employment Rights Act 2025 heralds a significant uplift in workers’ rights. This landmark piece of legislation means that statutory sick pay will be paid from day one, that unfair dismissal claims can now be brought after being employed for six months rather than two years, and provides trade unions with the statutory right to access workplaces.
The act also ensures that members will not suffer detriment when taking part in industrial action, a loophole that UNISON legal services successfully challenged at the UK Supreme Court on behalf of union member, Fiona Mercer, a care worker and UNISON rep who organised strike action over her employer’s plans to cut care workers’ pay. Fiona’s employer singled her out, suspended her, and barred her from going into work or contacting colleagues during the action.
UNISON was also instrumental in securing tougher provisions against zero-hours contracts, the extension of time limits for employment claims from three to six months, mandatory employer record‑keeping for working time, and a new baseline of rights and protections for workers in social care.
Securing equal pay for equal work
For over 20 years, UNISON has been at the forefront of equal pay litigation. Recently, the union supported female employees at Birmingham City Council, who had been denied the same benefits and conditions as a group of male employees. The union lodged mass equal pay claims for over 3,000 members, and workers have so far received offers that amount to £50m in total. This figure will increase as further rounds of offers are due to be made in 2026.
In Southampton City Council, UNISON acted on behalf of 360 members facing a similar situation. Members have been offered significant settlement payments.
Challenging discrimination against part-time workers
Since 2019, UNISON has pursued several collective holiday pay claims for members working in education on term‑time only contracts, who have suffered deductions in wages due to incorrect calculations by their employers. Most recently, Barnsley Council has paid UNISON members over £600,000 in backpay for making this error. In total, UNISON has recovered over £130m in compensation for term-time workers.
Justice for members who have been injured at work
In the last year, over 1 in 3 personal injury cases that UNISON has fought on behalf of members were for workplace assault. These cases are crucial, not just to secure compensation for the workers affected, but for ensuring better health and safety for all union members.
In total, between 2024 and 2025, UNISON secured a total of £27m in personal injury settlements for a total of 1,873 cases.
During this same period, over 4,400 members accessed initial, free legal advice on non-work issues providing vitally needed help on their legal rights.
Victories at the employment tribunal
In 2025, 182 of UNISON’s employment tribunal cases were successfully concluded in England & Wales. These cases covered issues spanning from disability and race discrimination to redundancy and unfair dismissal. The vast majority (158) were settled, and the remainder (24) were won at a contested tribunal hearing.
UNISON’s head of legal services Shantha David said: “Reflecting on the legal victories of 2025, I want to commend our members who are brave enough to come forward and challenge the unfair workplace treatment they have experienced. Their courage and strength against adversity allows us to highlight the struggles our members face and to ensure better legal protections for these individuals and all the workers they represent.
“Moving into 2026 armed with the Employment Rights Act, we are now even better equipped to challenge legal boundaries and ensure the best outcomes for our members, and we will continue to push for fair treatment for all workers.”
Find out more about UNISON’s legal services
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