Plus, spotlight on two Tribunal decisions
As the summer holidays get underway, we take a look at work experience and internships, as well as a flurry of preparatory activity by the government in advance of the next set of Employment Rights Act 2025 changes.
We highlight the August changes to trade union balloting and look at a recent Tribunal decision covering determining whether activity is a trade union activity – or not.
Southampton FC recently came under the spotlight when it was revealed that an intern with the club that had been tasked with ‘spying’ on a training session at a rival club.
Work experience and internships offer incredibly valuable experiences for a wide range of people. For employers, they are a good way to access wider sections of the potential workforce and explore talent that might be available, provided the ‘work’ is appropriate and engaging. However, there are a number of legal issues people professionals need to be clear on, including the employment status of anyone engaging in any form of work experience:
Our guidance on running work experience placements covers everything you need to know, with an explanation of the legal aspects to be aware of.
As part of the wider ‘plan to Make Work Pay’, the government is consulting on employment rights for unpaid carers, and on the implementation of ‘Hugh’s Law’ - to introduce support for parents of seriously ill children. The consultation recognises that many existing rights such as the right to request flexible working, unpaid parental leave and time off for dependants go some way to supporting unpaid carers, and parents dealing with a seriously ill child, but many are not aware of the support available, and in some cases, what is available may not be enough to keep carers in long term employment, while enabling them to provide support to the person they are caring for when it is needed.
The consultation is open until 1 September 2026.
Members can access tools and guidance on developing and implementing family friendly policies, including guidance for managers, developed by the CIPD. There is also guidance available on how to support working carers.
While the bulk of the next ERA 2025 changes are scheduled for October, there is one change coming by 31 August 2026 to be aware of. Trade unions will be able to use electronic balloting or offer a ‘hybrid’ of postal and electronic balloting for statutory trade union ballots, alongside the traditional postal balloting.
While in many cases, how a union ballots its members is a matter for the union, where the ballot is for industrial action, trade unions can ask the employer to consent to a ‘workplace ballot’. This allows union members to vote in person, at a location at or near the workplace. This has a greater impact on an employer and as well as considering whether to give consent ‘with a clear mind’, once consent has been given, the employer and union have to work out a voluntary access agreement covering arrangements for the ballot.
The government has published a draft code of practice on electronic and workplace ballots which details the processes involved and has more details around the employer duties in relation to workplace ballots. We are building a number of tools relating to the new trade union rights, including a checklist for handling requests for workplace ballots.
As a new raft of changes to the law regulating employer/union relationships come into force in August (mentioned above) and then October, more employers are contemplating trade union relations than ever before. Ahead of these changes the case of Young v Royal Mail Group (2026) offers an insight into the extent to which messages in a union related messaging group might (or might not) constitute ‘union activities’. During a period of industrial unrest, an employee (and union member) posted a couple of messages in a union-created WhatsApp group. In one he posted “F**k Royal Mail” and in another, he referred by name to two other employees who needed to make up their minds about “which side they were on” and that the
“...wrong answer will result in your car being blown up...”.
One of the named individuals complained, and the employee who made the comments was dismissed for gross misconduct in accordance with the employer’s social media policy, for the use of threatening and intimidating behaviour towards colleagues. The Tribunal agreed that the dismissal had been for the employee’s conduct and not for participating in union activity, and the EAT upheld the Tribunal’s reasoning. Just because the comments had been made in a union messaging group, and during a time of heightened industrial tension in the workplace, did not make such a message ‘union activity’.
Against the background of the announcement that nearly 200 workplaces have signed up to be ‘vanguard’ employers championing measures to prevent people dropping out of work due to ill health and disability, the recent case of Caroline v ICTS (UK) Ltd (2026) is a good reminder of how employers should not blindly follow sickness absence policies to the letter but should actively look behind absences to see if there is an underlying cause that should be addressed.
The Claimant in this case was ultimately dismissed for her for 55 days’ sickness absence (all found to be genuine absences) which occurred at various points between February 2023 and November 2024. During this period, she had progressed through the employer’s absence management procedure. At a meeting in November 2024, she disclosed anxiety and mental health issues which she was addressing through her GP and raised the possibility that she was suffering with reactive arthritis (a condition later confirmed) which could be contributing to her absence. The manager did not address this and dismissed her because he felt he had no choice. The employee’s appeal against dismissal failed.
In upholding the complaint of unfair dismissal, the Tribunal judge criticised the employer for failing to take further advice from the GP or a referral to Occupational Health once the employee had mentioned a possible underlying condition which could potentially have led to an exploration of reasonable adjustments if the condition amounted to a disability. The employer also failed to consider alternatives to dismissal or what impact the absences had had on the employer’s business.
The case highlights the importance of managers understanding how to handle absence issues, when to ask further questions and look behind what is presented to see if there are any underlying issues which should be investigated. Members can find guidance and tools for managing sickness absence including a checklist for line managers to use in these cases.
Check our Employment Rights Act 2025 tracker for more details of the next changes listed here, changes scheduled for 2027, and the latest consultations which give you, as people professionals, the opportunity to shape forthcoming changes.
Use the tracker to keep up to date with latest timeline and developments
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