Homecare Association response on Trade Union Access

The Homecare Association has responded to the Department of Business and Trade's consultation on trade union access. This examines the formal process for trade unions to request physical or digital access to a workplace.

In our response we highlight that it is vital that access agreements take account of relevant factors such as:

• The fact that homecare operates across many sites, with the workforce rarely or never in one place
• Ensuring that unions cannot request access to people's homes (when these are workplaces)
• Taking account of safeguarding, infection control and other measures in care settings
• Ensuring that there is clarity about how access arrangements interact with data protection legislation

We do not think that the formal access agreement process should apply to very small employers (fewer than 21 employees), or to requests from additional unions if there is already a recognised union covering the staff in that workplace.