The Employment Rights Act 2025: industrial action and Fire and Rescue Services
The Employment Rights Act 2025 (the Act) represents a significant change to the employment law landscape for Fire and Rescue Services across almost every area of the employee/employer relationship, whether in relation to protection against dismissal, family friendly rights or the use of Non-Disclosure Agreements. Industrial action is no exception, with some of the most significant changes impacting the relationship between Fire and Rescue Services and trade unions.
Looking for more detail on how the Employment Rights Act could affect your organisation? Our Employment Rights Act tracker gives you a structured, up to date view of the reforms, with clear timelines, practical commentary and prompts to help you understand what is changing, when it matters, and what to do next.
Let's take a closer look at where we are and the changes that will come into law over the next couple of years.
Where are we now - setting the scene
Trade union law in England and Wales has evolved significantly over many years, with different governments implementing different rules to reflect their own political perspectives on industrial action and trade union powers. The previous government's legislation had a focus on restricting industrial action, imposing stricter thresholds for legal strikes, and changing union financing rules.
Of particular importance, the Trade Union Act 2016 included provisions that increased ballot thresholds for industrial action. This meant that a minimum of 50% of those eligible to vote need to turn out to vote in the ballot in order for it to be valid and in specified important public services (in England only), including Fire and Rescue Services, at least 40% of those entitled to vote must vote in favour of industrial action.
The 40% requirement does not apply in Wales. This means that it is easier for a trade union in Wales to successfully call for industrial action.
So what is changing?
One of the most significant changes to how a Fire and Rescue Service manages strike action has already taken effect. The Act repeals the minimum service levels legislation from 2024 which required trade unions and employers to agree on minimum staffing levels during strikes. In England, the 2024 regulations set a minimum service level of 73% of Fire and Rescue Service appliances deployable on a non-strike day to be available during strike action, with the aim of maintaining emergency response capacity similar to non-strike days. This has now been repealed.
What this means for Fire and Rescue Services
Fire and Rescue Services should urgently review the likely impact of this change and consider how it will maintain capacity during periods of strike action, without relying on the minimum service level set out in the 2024 regulations. Fire and Rescue Services must maintain a dialogue with Trade Unions and personnel to understand the likely impact of strike action in order to identify risks and establish contingencies. Fire and Rescue Services will no longer be able to rely on statutory minimum service requirements to mitigate operational risk during lawful strike action.
The Act repeals most of the provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016, reducing the level of restrictions on trade union activities. Key changes include:
- Removal of 40% support threshold
- Reduced requirement for notice of industrial action (reduced from 14 to 10 days)
- Removal of picket supervisor requirements
- Extension of mandate validity from six to 12 months
However, the 50% turnout threshold will remain in place, at least for the moment. Its removal has been paused and will be aligned with the introduction of electronic balloting (see below).
Trade unions will no longer need to adhere to reporting requirements for industrial action, such as providing detailed information on ballot papers or including industrial action details in annual returns to the Certification Officer.
Public sector employers will also no longer need to publish facility time information, nor will ministers have the power to cap facility time. Payroll deductions for union subscriptions in the public sector will no longer need to be funded by unions.
All in all, it is clear that trade unions' ability to fundraise, manage picketing and call industrial action will be made more straightforward from mid-February.
What this means for Fire and Rescue Services
Fire and Rescue Services will need to familiarise themselves with the new rules in order to react to threats of industrial action quickly. Reducing the notice to 10 days will have an impact, as will the strengthening of the mandate. More broadly, removal of the 40% support threshold self-evidently makes industrial action more likely, and Fire and Rescue Services will need to take that into account when entering into negotiations with personnel and their union representatives.
The Act also changes how trade union members contribute to political funds. Under current law, trade union members must actively opt in if they wish to contribute to a union’s political fund. Under the Act this position will be reversed. New members are automatically opted in to contributing to the union’s political fund (if it has one), unless they expressly opt out by providing an opt-out notice. This returns the law to an opt-out model, under which union members will no longer need to give express consent to make political fund contributions.
What this means for Fire and Rescue Services
This is unlikely to have a significant immediate impact on Fire and Rescue Services.
The Act removes the current 12-week cap on protection against automatic unfair dismissal where the reason for dismissal is that the employee has taken industrial action.
What this means for Fire and Rescue Services
The increased protection may lead to more claims. Fire and Rescue Services should carefully evidence the reason for dismissal in all cases, and in particular where the employee concerned has a history of participating in industrial action.
Whilst the FBU is recognised across Fire and Rescue Services, the Act simplifies the statutory union recognition process.
The requirement for unions to demonstrate that a majority of workers in the proposed bargaining unit are likely to support recognition at the application stage will be removed. The current 10% membership threshold will remain for now, but the government will have the power to adjust this to a level between 2% and 10% via secondary legislation.
In recognition ballots, the existing requirement for both a majority of votes cast and support from at least 40% of the bargaining unit will be removed. Going forward, a simple majority of those voting will be sufficient for recognition.
What this means for Fire and Rescue Services
For operational staff, where the FBU is already recognised, the practical impact may be limited. However, the position may be different in relation to non-operational staff. In many Services, union representation of non-operational personnel is less formalised or not subject to statutory recognition in the same way.
The simplification of the recognition process may make it easier for unions to seek formal recognition in respect of discrete groups of non-operational employees. Fire and Rescue Services should therefore consider the current constitution of their bargaining units and the extent to which existing arrangements reflect how the workforce is structured in practice.
Services may also wish to review their broader industrial relations strategy in relation to non-operational staff, including how engagement is managed and whether existing arrangements remain appropriate in light of the new statutory framework. Early consideration of these issues is likely to be preferable to responding reactively to a formal recognition application.
The Act commits to introducing secure electronic balloting for trade union votes. Implementation will follow consultation and a review involving stakeholders, including cybersecurity experts and trade unions.
The turnout threshold for industrial action ballots was the subject of debate during the Act's passage, particularly in light of the planned introduction of electronic balloting.
The end result is that the 50% turnout threshold will not be removed automatically. Instead, before any regulations are made to repeal the threshold, the government will consider the effect of electronic and other non-postal balloting on voter participation. The Secretary of State is also required to lay a statement before Parliament explaining how this has been taken into account.
What this means for Fire and Rescue Services
Although this change primarily affects trade unions, Fire and Rescue Services should anticipate quicker ballots and potentially higher turnout. It would be sensible to watch for developments in the unions' approach to ballots.
The Act introduces a prohibition on detrimental treatment for workers participating in industrial action. Regulations will prescribe specific detriments against which workers are to be protected. The scope of prohibited detriments is to be defined in future regulations.
What this means for Fire and Rescue Services
Fire and Rescue Services should ensure that workers who participate in industrial action are not subject to any of the specified detriments once these are published.
The Act introduces a new duty on employers to inform workers of their right to join a trade union. Employers will be required to include this information to new starters alongside the statement of particulars . FRS personnel must also be reminded of this right on a regular basis, with details of the timing and manner of communication to be set out in future regulations. Failure to provide the statement will be treated in the same way as failure to provide a section 1 statement.
What this means for Fire and Rescue Services
Fire and Rescue Services should monitor the consultation outcome, adopting a notice in the appropriate form once this is confirmed. The new duty will apply to non-operational personnel as well as operational personnel.
The Act provides a framework for qualifying (independent) trade unions to negotiate access agreements with employers.
Unions with an access agreement will be able to access workplaces for purposes such as recruitment, organising members, and facilitating collective bargaining. Access includes both physical access and digital communication with workers (for example, via intranet or email) and employers will not be able to refuse one form of access solely because the other is available. Further details on how this will operate in practice will be set out in regulations, following consultation.
If employers and unions fail to agree on access terms, the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) will determine the terms of access. The CAC will also have enforcement powers to address breaches of access agreements and impose financial penalties where necessary.
What this means for Fire and Rescue Services
This is unlikely to be revolutionary for Fire and Rescue Services, with FBU activities already integrated across many stations and locations. Trade unions will be emboldened by the new rights of access with involvement and activities likely to increase. Again, managers at a local level will need to understand the rights of access and ensure that this is facilitated. Managers should be aware that unjustified refusal of access is likely to be unlawful.
The Act strengthens the right to reasonable paid facility time by creating a presumption in favour of the union representative’s view of what is reasonable. Fire and Rescue Services will need to prove otherwise if they dispute the representative’s assessment. The Act also introduces a statutory requirement for employers to provide union representatives with access to workplace facilities, such as office and meeting space, to support their duties.
The Act establishes a new right for trade union equality representatives to take reasonable time off to promote workplace equality, arrange training, provide advice, and consult with employers on equality matters.
What this means for Fire and Rescue Services
Fire and Rescue Services should now review their policies and facility time agreements. The new roles will encourage representatives to take more active roles across stations - running training sessions, holding meetings, providing drop-in sessions etc. Union representatives will need to be provided with office and meeting space, so consideration should be given to how this will work at a local level.
Summary
Fire and Rescue Services generally have positive and collaborative relationships with the FBU and other staff representatives. The Employment Rights Act 2025 does not alter that fundamental position. However, it is clear that the statutory framework will strengthen trade union rights and simplify recognition and industrial action processes over the next 12–18 months.
For operational staff, the impact may be felt most acutely in relation to industrial action planning and dismissal risk. For non-operational staff, the reforms to statutory recognition may alter the landscape over time. Services may therefore wish to reflect on whether their current bargaining unit structures and engagement arrangements remain fit for purpose, and whether the constructive approach that often characterises relationships with the FBU can be replicated across the wider workforce.
The Act presents both challenges and an opportunity to take a more strategic, forward-looking approach to workforce engagement. Reviewing contracts, policies and facility time arrangements, ensuring managers understand the evolving legal framework, and strengthening industrial relations governance during 2026 will place Fire and Rescue Services in a strong position as further changes come into force.
For more information or advice, please contact Mark Stevens in our Employment team.
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