Trade union activity is an important feature of the UK film and TV industry. Collective bargaining arrangements (“CBAs”) between Pact and Equity / BECTU have long provided mechanisms for union engagement with productions, including provisions dealing with access to sets and pre-production meetings.
From 30 October 2026, a new legal regime will come into force. The Employment Rights Act 2025 (“ERA 2025“) introduces a new statutory framework under which an independent trade union can formally request access to a workplace and/or communication with workers for the purposes of meeting, supporting, representing, recruiting or organising workers, or facilitating collective bargaining although importantly not to organise industrial action.
The new right is not limited to unions that are formally recognised by an employer and does not require the union to demonstrate a particular level of membership or workforce support. This is particularly relevant to the UK film and TV sector as production entities rarely formally recognise unions but can engage large numbers of union members as cast and crew, often working on short-term engagements and across different locations.
The new regime does not replace the access requirements within the existing collective bargaining arrangements (such as the PACT / Equity agreements which are currently being renegotiated). Instead, the two will sit alongside each other, creating some important questions for producers about which arrangements apply and how they should respond if a union seeks to use the new statutory route.
Navigation
What happens when a union makes a statutory request?
What does this mean for film and TV productions?
Does this mean unions can simply turn up on set?
What should film and TV businesses be doing now?
What is changing?
Statutory trade union access
At a glance
From: 30 October 2026 (subject to parliamentary approval)
Who can request it? Independent trade unions including Equity and BECTU
Who is in scope? Production companies with 21 or more workers in total across all locations, subject to the statutory framework
What can be requested? Physical and/or digital access
Why? To meet, support, represent, recruit or organise workers, or facilitate collective bargaining
Employer response: 15 working days
Negotiation: 25 working days
If no agreement: Central Arbitration Committee (“CAC”) can determine access and its terms
Breaches: escalating penalties starting at £75,000 for a first breach, £150,000 for a second breach, and potentially up to £500,000 for repeated breaches.
Historically, there has been no general statutory right for a trade union to enter an employer’s workplace simply to meet, recruit or organise workers. Access has generally depended on the employer voluntarily agreeing access with a union, existing collective bargaining arrangements or the application of specific statutory provisions.
The ERA 2025 changes that.
From 30 October 2026, an independent trade union will be able to make a formal request for physical access, digital access or a combination of the two. The purposes of access can include meeting, supporting, representing, recruiting or organising workers and facilitating collective bargaining, although the new right does not extend to organising industrial action. Therefore, whilst the new rules should not be directly relevant to any proposed industrial action, in practice they are likely, in a general sense, to help for Equity and Bectu to better track which of their members are working on any production at any given time. This, in turn, means it is easier for these unions (should they wish) to comply with statutory balloting requirements in the event of industrial action being threatened.
Importantly, the union does not need to be formally recognised by the employer for collective bargaining purposes to make an access request. There is also no general requirement for the union to demonstrate that it already has significant membership among the relevant workforce, although in such circumstances an employer may reasonably refuse access if the union lacks a legitimate purpose for the request, given the potential cost and disruption this would cause.
This means that the new regime potentially gives unions a route into workplaces where there has previously been little or no union presence.
What happens when a union makes a statutory request?
The process is structured and the timescales are fairly short. In broad terms:
The request must contain specified information, including details of the workers to whom it relates, the type and purpose of access sought, proposed arrangements, etc (the government will soon publish a template form). The union must also give at least 5 working days’ notice before they would like to access a workplace.
The employer can accept, reject or partially accept the request, but any rejection or partial rejection must be explained. When the union and employer successfully negotiate access terms, they must jointly notify the CAC who will keep a record of the agreement.
If the request is not accepted in full, the parties are expected to negotiate in good faith to try to agree the terms of access.
If the parties cannot agree, either side can refer the matter to the Central Arbitration Committee (“CAC“), which is an independent statutory body that resolves collective workplace disputes in the UK. The CAC can determine whether access should be granted and, if so, on what terms. The statutory framework is designed to balance the union’s right to access with the employer’s need to avoid unreasonable interference with its business.
The CAC-imposed arrangements will generally last for no more than two years, although the arrangements can be revisited. The CAC also have the power to issue fines of between £75,000 to £500,000 for non-compliance.
The CAC will record every statutory access agreement, whether agreed by negotiation or imposed. Unions and employers are however strongly encouraged to continue agreeing voluntary access arrangements outside the statutory framework altogether.
What does this mean for film and TV productions?
Most businesses operating in the UK Film & TV sector already have established access arrangements with trade unions, for example, the access provisions in CBAs. In this respect, the TV agreement contains provisions dealing with union access and pre-production meetings, whilst the Film agreement contains its own access and information-sharing provisions.
Those arrangements will not disappear when the new statutory regime comes into force. However, producers should not assume that they provide a complete answer to the new legislation. There are some important differences.
For example, the existing Pact / Equity provisions only apply to a “full time accredited official” of Equity, whereas the statutory regime is potentially broader. Conversely, the CBA contains production-specific requirements which go beyond what would ordinarily be required under the statutory access framework (such as providing a copy of the script (where practicable) and keeping the union updated with cast lists). The CBA provisions are currently being renegotiation by PACT and Equity.
Faced with two potentially inconsistent trade union access provisions (those in the CBAs and ERA 2025), there could be some confusion amongst producers. By way of example, a union which already has contractual access rights under a CBA may continue to use those rights. However, the existence of such an arrangement does not necessarily prevent a qualifying union from making a statutory access request.
Producers could therefore unfortunately be faced with the following practical questions:
- Which access regime applies?
- What does it require us to provide?
- How do we manage access without unnecessarily disrupting production?
That last point is particularly important in an industry where the concept of a “workplace” can be very different from a conventional business or office.
A production may move between studios, locations, production offices and other sites, with cast and crew working highly variable hours and patterns. A digital access arrangement may therefore be particularly relevant for some productions, especially where physical access is difficult, which could include emails, webinars or online meeting. The production must be prepared to facilitate digital access using its existing IT systems and importantly must not track whether workers join online meetings or interact with digital messages sent on the union’s behalf.
Given that many productions have tight schedules and there is ever more pressure on budgets, there is potential for the disruption caused by ERA 2025 to be more profoundly felt in the film and TV sector as compared to other industries.
Does this mean unions can simply turn up on set?
No. The new regime does not provide an unrestricted right for union officials to arrive at a production whenever they choose.
Access arrangements are intended to be agreed between the union and employer, and the statutory framework gives the employer an opportunity to respond and negotiate appropriate terms. The legislation also expressly requires access to operate in a way that does not unreasonably interfere with the employer’s business, while requiring employers to take reasonable steps to facilitate access.
That should provide some important protection for productions where an unplanned visit could interfere with filming or create genuine operational or safety concerns.
However, productions should not assume that they can simply refuse access because it is inconvenient. The starting point of the new framework is that access should generally be facilitated unless refusal is reasonable in all the circumstances. Additionally, where a trade union meeting takes place during working hours as part of an access arrangement, workers who attend must be paid in full for that time.
What should film and TV businesses be doing now?
With the new regime set to come into force on 30 October 2026, productions should be considering the practical implications now. We would recommend the following:
Review any applicable CBA or other existing access arrangements applicable to productions and understand what they already provide for in relation to union access, pre-production meetings and information sharing.
A request will trigger a relatively short statutory timetable. Productions should identify who will take ownership of any request and who needs to be involved in responding to it.
Consider in advance where and when union representatives could realistically meet cast and crew to minimise disruption. For some productions, digital access may provide a useful alternative or supplement to physical visits.
Anyone involved in production management, HR or employee relations should understand that an access request cannot simply be treated as an ordinary visitor request. The statutory process and timescales need to be followed carefully.
The new access rights form part of a much wider package of changes to employment and trade union laws under the ERA 2025. Even studios and production companies which have historically had little direct trade union involvement should consider how they would respond if union activity increases.
A new landscape for the industry
The new statutory right of trade union access represents a meaningful change to the UK’s industrial relations landscape.
For film and TV businesses, it does not mean that the existing arrangements in a CBA become irrelevant. Nor does it mean that trade unions will suddenly have unrestricted access to every production.
What it does mean is that union access is becoming a statutory right which qualifying unions can seek to exercise even where there is no existing recognition or voluntary access arrangement.
Given the way the film and TV industry operates, that could have some very practical consequences. Producers will need to think not just about whether access should be granted, but how it can be accommodated in a way that respects the new statutory framework while protecting the practical and commercial requirements of production.
With the wider reforms that have come into force (or will shortly be coming into force) under the ERA 2025, employment and trade union law is likely to become increasingly important for film and TV businesses over the coming months.
Our employment and immigration lawyers will continue to track developments closely and we will issue further updates as implementation plans are announced. In the meantime, we’d be happy to discuss any of the above in more detail and our specialists are here to help if you have any questions, so please do get in touch.
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