Employment Rights Bill: Government publishes further consultation on electronic balloting and review of employment rights for unpaid carers

As the Employment Rights Bill crawls towards Royal Assent (having returned to the House of Commons on 17 November 2025 after the House of Lords continued to insist on its amendments in relation to unfair dismissal, guaranteed hours and industrial action), the Government launched a further ERB related consultation and a review on 19 November 2025. The consultation relates to a draft Code of Practice on electronic and workplace balloting for statutory union ballots and the review considers the approach to employment rights for unpaid carers. We discuss the consultation and the review in more detail below.

Code of practice on electronic and workplace balloting

The Government published its consultation, Make Work Pay: draft code of practice on electronic and workplace balloting for statutory union ballots together with the Draft Code of Practice on 19 November 2025.

Currently, statutory trade union ballots including industrial action ballots must be held by post. The Government considers that this is outdated, reduces democratic participation and dampens employee voice. Under the ERB, the Government will be able to introduce secondary legislation allowing trade unions to use modern and secure electronic and workplace balloting methods in addition to postal balloting (which will remain a valid method). New voting methods will include (i) pure electronic balloting where everything is distributed by electronic means, (ii) hybrid electronic balloting where voting materials are distributed by post and voters can return their vote by post or electronically, and (iii) workplace balloting where votes are cast in person although this would only apply to industrial action ballots. All ballots would still be overseen by an independent scrutineer in line with the existing statutory regime.

The Government will introduce a statutory Code of Practice on electronic and workplace balloting, and the consultation seeks views on a draft version of that Code. It is intended that the Code will provide practical guidance to employers, trade unions and independent scrutineers on the use of electronic and workplace balloting including how to ensure a ballot meets the required standards, factors to be considered when choosing voting methods and good practice in conducting statutory union ballots.

The draft Code contains guidance on the responsibilities of various stakeholders including responsible persons who decide which voting method will be used, trade unions who must ensure they are seeking to use a permitted ballot method and employers who should not do anything to hinder the ability of eligible workers to cast their ballot freely, fairly and in secret.

The draft Code also sets out electronic balloting requirements which include conducting electronic balloting securely (for example using firewalls to protect networks) and in accordance with data protection legislation, and allowing enough time for voters to consider and return their votes which will depend on a range of factors such as where the voters are located and whether the ballot period falls over a time when members are more likely to be away from home or work. The draft Code also provides that an electronic ballot must be accessed via a member’s personal (private) email address or SMS number rather than a work email address or number in order to reduce the potential for employer interference.

The consultation closes on 28 January 2026, and according to the Government’s ERB Implementation Roadmap electronic and workplace balloting is expected to take effect in April 2026.

Review of employment rights for unpaid carers

Also on 19 November 2025, the Government published Employment rights for unpaid carers review: terms of reference, setting out its approach to a review of employment rights for unpaid carers.

The Carer’s Leave Act 2023, which came into effect on 6 April 2024, introduced an unpaid leave entitlement for employees giving or arranging care for a dependant. For more information, see our Law-Now New family friendly entitlements for employees.

The Government will now review whether the existing statutory entitlement to unpaid carer’s leave provides adequate support to carers and their dependants, examine options for different models of paid carer’s leave, consider the options and principles for additional interventions (such as extensions to the existing unpaid entitlement) and identify options with nil or low cost to business and the exchequer. Specifically, the review will consider the introduction of:

• a paid leave entitlement;
• a one-off, extended unpaid leave entitlement;
• a paid leave entitlement for the parents of seriously ill children; and
• other situational paid leave entitlements to support carers in specific circumstances (such as individuals providing end of life care).

The Government will carry out research to support any future policy decisions which will include publishing a consultation on employment support for unpaid carers, support for parents of seriously ill children, and consideration of Hugh’s Law which aims to provide financial support and leave for parents following their child being diagnosed with a serious illness.

The Government expects the review to conclude by the end of 2026, and to open its consultation on potential policy options during the course of Winter 2025 to Autumn 2026.

Comment

The modernisation of workplace balloting procedures may well lead to an increase in voter turnout and shorter ballot periods which means, in conjunction with other trade union related changes under the ERB, employers are likely to see an uptick in industrial relations activities in the workplace. All employers will need to prepare for this but those who have previously had little union interest need to be particularly alive to the suite of changes.

Any changes to carers’ leave and pay entitlements will need to be addressed in due course via updates to workplace policies and procedures and workplace communications and training to ensure that employees are aware of and managers understand any new leave and pay entitlements. 

If you would like to discuss any of these issues in more detail, please get in touch with your usual CMS UK Employment contact. You can stay up to date with the latest ERB-related developments via our Employment Rights Bill Hub.

Authors: Catriona Aldridge (Partner), Aisleen Pugh (Senior Knowledge Counsel) and Simona Kalnina (Associate)