Trade Union Right of Access to Workplaces in the UK Hospitality Sector

Why this matters for hospitality

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces, from October 2026, a statutory right for independent trade unions to access workplaces in England, Wales and Scotland (Northern Ireland is excluded as employment law is devolved) for the purposes of meeting, supporting, representing, recruiting or organising workers and facilitating collective bargaining — but not for organising industrial action.

At present, trade unions do not have a general independent right of access and so this represents a significant change that will have a major impact on the hospitality sector — hotels, restaurants, bars, pubs, contract catering, leisure venues and quick-service chains. The sector has historically had relatively low union density, multi-site operations, a young and transient workforce, heavy reliance on agency and seasonal labour, and a high proportion of premises that are leased, franchised or operated under management agreements. All of these features make hospitality employers a natural focus for union organising activity once the new right takes effect.

The reforms sit alongside a wider set of industrial relations changes. These introduce the requirement for much lower levels of worker support for an employer to be legally required to recognise a union and enhance protections for union activists. Industrial action procedures are also simplified making it easier to obtain a mandate for industrial action by only requiring the majority of those voting in a ballot to be in favour, requiring only 10 days notice to take industrial action, and extending mandates to call industrial action from 6 months to 12. The cumulative impact of these changes, combined with the new right of access to workplaces and communication systems, for operators with large, dispersed and customer-facing workforces in a significant operational risk.

What the new right covers

Access is defined broadly. It will include physical entry to the workplace and communication with workers by any means, including the employer's digital channels such as email, intranet pages, digital screens and communication apps. Employers will have to disclose to a union seeking access the methods by which they communicate with workers so that the union can frame its request appropriately. For hospitality employers this is particularly significant: front-of-house and kitchen teams may typically receive operational communications via WhatsApp groups, rota apps, point-of-sale terminals, staff-room noticeboards and back-office systems, all of which may fall within scope.

Employers with fewer than 21 workers on a group-wide basis will be excluded. The group-wide test is important in hospitality, where a small independent restaurant may sit within a larger holding structure or hotel group and therefore lose the small-employer carve-out. Franchisees that are legally separate entities should consider their own headcount, while franchisors should expect their corporate-owned estates to be firmly within scope.

The right is purpose-based and not intended to facilitate the organisation of industrial action.

How the process will work

Negotiation and Code of Practice

Unions and employers will be expected to negotiate access agreements, supported by a Code of Practice, with the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) determining arrangements where agreement cannot be reached. Hospitality employers should anticipate that unions will often seek voluntary access arrangements before submitting any formal statutory request.

Timelines

Once a formal request is made:

• employers will have 15 working days to respond, extendable only by mutual agreement, using standard request and response templates annexed to the draft Code
• if the request is accepted in whole or in part, the parties will have a further 25 working days (also extendable) to negotiate terms
• if agreement is reached, they will jointly notify the CAC, and if not, either party may refer the matter to the CAC for it to determine the terms

A fast-track route is proposed where requests align with the model terms in the draft Code.

Model terms

The draft Code proposes model terms including weekly access, two working days' notice of access visits (with five working days' notice for the first visit following finalisation of the agreement) and agreements lasting up to two years. The government is consulting on the draft Code, with responses due by 20 May 2026.

Once access arrangements are in place, whether they are agreed or imposed by the CAC, they cannot be amended or terminated without the agreement of the union.

When access can be refused

There is a general presumption that access will be granted and will only be refused where it would unreasonably interfere with business operations or require unreasonable steps to facilitate. The CAC must refuse access where the employer has fewer than 21 workers or the proposed agreement is to last more than two years, and may refuse on grounds including the existence of an existing statutory access agreement or recognition of an independent union covering the relevant workers.

For hospitality, "unreasonable interference" arguments could centre on service periods, kitchen safety, licensed premises requirements, guest privacy and security-controlled areas. These are fact-sensitive: blanket refusals are unlikely to succeed, and the practical question will be how access is structured rather than whether it occurs at all.

Premises the employer does not control

The draft Code addresses access where workers are at premises the employer does not control: the employer must take reasonable steps to facilitate access, including engaging with the landlord or premises owner, and the CAC can impose access and apply the enforcement framework to non-parties who obstruct it. This is acutely relevant in hospitality, where outlets frequently sit within shopping centres, transport hubs, airports, stadia, concession sites, leased units within hotels, third-party event venues and managed estates. Operators should review lease, concession, franchise and management agreements now to identify where access cooperation obligations may need to be negotiated with landlords or principal operators.

Enforcement

The enforcement regime is robust, with penalties of up to £500,000 for repeated non-compliance. Where the CAC upholds a complaint about access disagreements, it may alter an agreement, order specific steps and impose penalties on a tiered basis:

• up to £75,000 for the first order;
• £150,000 for the second order; and
• £500,000 for the third and subsequent breaches

Factors including gravity, duration, reasons for the breach, employer size and history of non-compliance are taken into account. The CAC may publish information relating to penalties, including naming the liable party — a particular reputational concern for consumer-facing hospitality brands.

What hospitality HR teams should be doing now

Given the tight statutory timescales for response and the significant enforcement penalties, hospitality employers should familiarise themselves with the legislation and the draft Code now. Employers should also consider contributing to the consultation which closes on 20 May 2026.

Practical preparation should include:

• reviewing engagement strategies;
• training managers (including general managers, head chefs and venue managers) on what union access means and when it can and cannot be refused;
• identifying areas where it would create unreasonable interference if access were granted because of legitimate operational, safety, security or confidentiality concerns;
• assess the risks of a union seeking access and consider how they would respond, including:
  • auditing workplaces and customary communication channels;
  • identifying issues arising from third parties accessing a workplace (health and safety, regulatory requirements, data privacy, confidentiality and liability); and
  • identifying key standards to be included in any access agreement (confidentiality, behavioural expectations, data protection and IT security)

For hospitality operators, the channel audit should specifically capture WhatsApp and rota apps, staff-room and back-of-house screens, EPOS and handheld order devices and any guest-facing systems that staff also use.

It is important that employers have a clear picture now of what they may be able to accommodate and what they cannot because, as outlined above, the process for determining access does not give much time to properly consider a request and, once access arrangements are in place, they cannot be amended or terminated without the agreement of the union.

Employers that take practical steps now to build clear access protocols will be far better placed when the reforms take effect in October 2026.