How the Employment Rights Act 2025 empowers unions and employees, and how the games business must prepare

Employment Rights Act 2025 (ERA) entered into force on 18 February 2026, introducing the first tranche of trade‑union reforms. The ERA is a package of new UK laws that will reshape employment relationships for many years. Its provisions will be phased in across 2026 and into 2027, with secondary legislation, guidance and consultation filling in operational details. This creates both opportunity and uncertainty for employers, especially those in fast‑moving, project‑based industries such as games development.

The ERA reduces procedural hurdles for trade unions and expands statutory protections for workers involved in union activity. From 18 February 2026, the law will simplify industrial‑action rules. Balloting requirements will be streamlined, and the notice period unions must give employers before industrial action will be cut from 14 days to 10 days. Strike mandates, which currently last six months, will be extended to twelve months, giving unions greater flexibility and reducing the need for repeat ballots. Workers participating in lawful industrial action will receive statutory protection from “prescribed detriments”; the precise scope of these protections will be defined later in regulations.

Unionisation in the games sector has moved from a niche issue to a mainstream industry conversation. High‑profile union drives, collective agreements in quality‑assurance teams, and organised responses to layoffs, restructurings and studio closures illustrate this trend. Rising living costs, concerns about job security, crunch, outsourcing, AI and perceived bargaining‑power imbalances have increased interest in collective representation among games workers.

For games businesses, the key question is not whether union‑related issues will arise, but how prepared employers will be to engage with them constructively, lawfully and strategically. The ERA’s phased approach means that studios historically operating without union representation may see accelerated trends that are already underway. The article is the first in a short series designed to help UK games businesses understand the ERA’s practical implications and begin preparing now.