Government publish Employment Rights Act draft codes of practice

The Government has published two documents related to the Employment Rights Act 2025 which are due to come into force on 18th February 2026.

The changes include:

• that trade unions will no longer need to meet a 40% support threshold in an industrial action ballot for important public services.
• that unions are no longer required to meet the 50% turnout threshold in industrial action ballots, although this still requires a commencement order for Section 68 of the Employment Rights Act 2025.*
• that unions will no longer be required to provide employers with the number of workers in each of the categories of workers being balloted, the number of workers concerned at each workplace, and an explanation of how these figures and the total number of workers were arrived at.
• that employers can no longer impose work notices on trade unions for minimum service levels during strike action, and there is no longer a requirement for unions to appoint a picket supervisor.

The codes of practice:

1. A draft revised Picketing Code of Practice reflecting the imminent removal of the requirement for unions to appoint a picketing supervisor. From the Government website: “This draft code and its corresponding explanatory memorandum, laid before both Houses of Parliament, shows the proposed consequential revisions of the code. This follows amendments made to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 Act by the Employment Rights Act 2025. The revisions to the code relate to provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 that are due to come into force on 18 February 2026.”
2. A draft revised Code of Practice on industrial action ballots and notice to employers reflecting the changes to industrial action support requirements and the simplification of notices of industrial action which must be given by the union to employers. From the Government website: “This draft code and its corresponding explanatory memorandum, laid before both Houses of Parliament, shows the proposed consequential revisions of the code. This follows amendments made to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 Act by the Employment Rights Act 2025. The revisions to the code relate to provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 that are due to come into force on 18 February 2026.”

Daniel Barnett of Employment Law Services reports that transitional and saving regulations also come into force on the same date. These relate to how the law applies in the period around these specific trade union-related measures coming into force. They address how to deal with certain cases that began under the Trade Union Act 2016 legal framework but are still in progress when the Employment Rights Act 2025 comes into force. Government guidance on these transitional provisions is provided in Trade Union Law: Transition to Employment Rights Act 2025.

* For reference, the exact wording in the draft guidance is: “It should be noted that Section 68 of the Employment Rights Act 2025 amends section 226(2) of the 1992 Act and therefore removes the requirement for trade unions to meet the 50% turnout threshold for industrial action ballots. However, until the provision in Section [71] is commenced, the 50% turnout threshold remains in force. The Secretary of State has the power to make secondary legislation that will set a commencement date for Section 68.”