Feb 16

Employment Rights Act gives a ‘boost to all unions’

  • 16 February 2026

The latest raft of changes to workers’ rights that have been created by the new Employment Rights Act (ERA) become active this week.

Passed in December last year, the ERA was the culmination of years of campaigning and negotiation by UNISON, which hailed the legislation as a ‘gamechanger’ for workers in Britain, both as individuals and collectively.

Given its size and scope, the act is being implemented in stages, over the next two years. With Royal Assent came one immediate reform – the repeal of the controversial Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, which allowed employers in key public services to force specific people to work on strike days.

The latest changes, which take effect from Wednesday, also directly benefit the work of trade unions, lifting many of the sanctions imposed by previous Conservative governments.

These involve the repeal of the great majority of the Trade Union Act 2016 (not the 50% threshold), to be replaced by other measures. The results include:

  • A reduction in the notice period for taking industrial action from 14 days to 10, making it quicker and easier to take action
  • An increase in the mandated period of a strike ballot from six months to 12
  • The simplification of industrial action and industrial action ballot notices
  • The removal of picketing restrictions
  • Removal of the requirement for public sector facility time to be published, in England and Scotland
  • New protections against dismissal for taking industrial action
  • Removal of the 10-year ballot requirement for trade union political funds
  • A return to the default agreement of automatic opt-in to a union’s political fund on joining, with an opt-out option for all members, including newcomers
  • The limitation of the powers of the certification officer (CO), who can now only act on complaints by members of a trade union, rather than any third party, and the removal of the CO levy.

UNISON head of policy Sampson Low said today: “After the immediate repeal of the Minimum Services Levels Act, this is the second big swathe of changes to benefit unions.

“Successive governments over many decades have sought to tie unions up in red tape. This set of changes is designed to free up unions with simpler ballot notices, ending the certification officer levy and extra powers, ending unnecessary facility time reporting and freeing up the members’ political funds.

“All these are welcome small measures, but collectively they are a boost to all unions.”

Today’s changes also include a significant one for parents, with the introduction of the day one right to paternity leave (which has until now required 26 weeks’ service) and unpaid parental leave (currently one year).

The next major trances of ERA changes, in April, will include statutory sick pay as a day one right for all workers.

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