The Trade Unions (Permissible Means of Voting) and Employment Rights (Unfair Dismissal) (Amendment) Order 2026

3 Amendment of Chapter 4 of Part 1

(1) Chapter 4 of Part 1 (elections for certain positions) is amended as follows. (2) In section 46 (duty to hold elections for certain positions)— (a) in subsections (1)(a), (5A) and (5B) for “requirements of this Chapter” substitute “relevant requirements”; (b) in subsection (5B)— (i) after “are” insert “, so far as applicable,”; (ii) for “47” substitute “46A”; (iii) at the end insert “and Schedule A1A”; (c) in subsection (6)— (i) after “the provisions of this Chapter”, in the first place it occurs, insert “including, so far as applicable, Schedule A1A”; (ii) for “the provisions of this Chapter”, in the second place it occurs, substitute “such provisions”. (3) After section 46 insert— Determination of means of voting Responsible person’s determination of means of voting 46A (1) Before the election is held, the responsible person for the election must make a determination about the means of voting at the election. (2) The determination must set out which one or more of the permissible means of voting is available for the election. (3) Where the determination provides that more than one permissible means of voting is available for the election, the determination must also set out— (a) that each of those means is available for each person who is entitled to vote at the election, or (b) which one or more of those means is available for one or more of the following— (i) particular persons who are entitled to vote at the election; (ii) particular descriptions of persons who are entitled to vote at the election. (4) Where the determination includes provision under subsection (3)(b), the determination must be such that at least one permissible means of voting is available for each person who is entitled to vote at the election. (5) Where the determination provides— (a) that more than one permissible means of voting is available for a particular person or description of persons, or (b) that hybrid voting is available for an election, the determination must include provision setting out which vote is to be counted in a case where a person casts more than one vote (and section 51ZA(4) applies for the purposes of construing the number of votes cast by a person). (6) Schedule ZA1 sets out further requirements in relation to a determination by the responsible person. (7) The responsible person for an election under section 46(1)(a) is the trade union to which the election relates. (8) The permissible means of voting for an election under section 46(1)(a) are— (a) postal voting; (b) hybrid voting; (c) electronic voting. (9) In this Chapter— (a) “selected means of voting” means, in relation to an election, a permissible means of voting that is available for the election as a result of a determination under this section; (b) a person is “eligible to vote” at an election by a particular means of voting if the determination under this section for the election sets out that that means is available for the person (see subsection (3)). . (4) In section 48 (election addresses), in subsection (1)(b)— (a) omit “by post”; (b) after “voting papers” insert “or voting access methods”. (5) In section 49 (appointment of independent scrutineer)— (a) in subsection (2)— (i) omit the “and” after paragraph (a); (ii) after paragraph (b) insert “; and (c) in the case of an election for which electronic voting or hybrid voting is a selected means of voting, the computer networks and systems which the person intends to use for conducting the election are covered by one or more qualifying Cyber Essentials Plus certificates awarded to the person. ; (b) after subsection (2) insert— (2A) For the purposes of subsection (2)— (a) “Cyber Essentials Plus certificate” means a certificate awarded in accordance with Cyber Essentials Plus Test Specification v3.2, or a later version of that document, published by the Government Communications Headquarters; (b) a Cyber Essentials Plus certificate awarded to a person is a “qualifying Cyber Essentials Plus certificate” if its expiry date is such that the certificate will remain valid for the duration of the election for which the person is appointed. ; (c) in subsection (3)— (i) for paragraph (a) substitute— (a) in relation to voting papers sent, or to be sent, in accordance with section 51ZC (postal voting: voting paper and method of voting)— (i) where someone other than the scrutineer is appointed under section 51A, to supervise the production and distribution of the voting papers; (ii) otherwise, to supervise the production of the voting papers, undertake the distribution of the voting papers and be the person to whom the voting papers are returned; (aza) in relation to voting papers sent or to be sent in accordance with paragraph 14(1) of Schedule A1A (hybrid voting), to supervise the production of the voting papers, undertake the distribution of the voting papers and be the person to whom the voting papers are returned; (azb) where electronic voting forms are to be used for the election— (i) to generate and distribute voting access methods, (ii) to maintain the electronic voting system, (iii) to maintain the audit logs, and (iv) to appropriately retain relevant personal information, voting information, voting access method information and the audit logs; ; (ii) in paragraph (c), for “the last date for the return of voting papers” substitute “the last voting day”; (d) after subsection (7) insert— (7A) The trade union must, so far as reasonably practicable, send to the scrutineer at least one of the following in respect of each person who is eligible to vote by electronic voting— (a) an email address which meets the requirements in subsection (7B); (b) a mobile telephone number which meets the requirements in subsection (7B). (7B) The requirements are that the email address or mobile telephone number— (a) was not provided to the person by and is not controlled by— (i) the person’s employer in their capacity as the person’s employer, or (ii) the trade union, (b) has not been provided to the scrutineer in respect of any other person for the purposes of the election, and (c) has been provided by the person to the trade union for the purpose of communication between the person and the trade union. ; (e) for subsection (8), substitute— (8) In this section— “last voting day” means the later of the following days, so far as applicable— the last day for the return of voting papers; the last day for submission of electronic voting forms; “the relevant date” means— where the trade union has rules determining who is entitled to vote in the election by reference to membership on a particular date, that date, and otherwise, the date, or the last date, on which voting materials are distributed for the purposes of the election; “voting materials” means either or both of the following, as applicable— voting access methods; voting papers. . (6) In section 51 (voting)— (a) omit subsections (1) and (2); (b) omit subsection (4)(a) and the “and” after it; (c) in subsection (4)(b), omit “by post”. (7) After section 51 insert— Counting of votes where multiple votes cast by same person 51ZA (1) This section applies where the responsible person for the election has determined that a person is eligible to vote at the election by more than one means of voting, or that a person is eligible to vote at the election by hybrid voting. (2) Where this section applies— (a) only one vote cast by the person is to be counted, (b) the vote which is to be counted is to be determined in accordance with provision in the determination made by virtue of section 46A(5), and (c) that provision and an explanation of its effect must be sent to the person along with the voting materials for the election. (3) In this section— “responsible person” is to be interpreted in accordance with section 46A; “voting materials” means— voting papers, and voting access methods. (4) For the purposes of this section, each of the following is to be treated as casting a separate vote— (a) returning a voting paper which was sent in accordance with paragraph 14(1) of Schedule A1A; (b) submitting an electronic voting form where the voting access method used to access the electronic voting form was sent in accordance with paragraph 14(1) of Schedule A1A. Postal voting Postal voting 51ZB Where postal voting is a selected means of voting for an election, the requirements in sections 51ZC and 51A apply in relation to postal voting at the election. Postal voting: voting paper and method of voting 51ZC (1) So far as is reasonably practicable, every person who is eligible to vote by postal voting must have sent to them by post, at their home address or another address which they have requested the trade union in writing to treat as their postal address, a voting paper which either lists the candidates at the election or is accompanied by a separate list of those candidates. (2) Each voting paper must— (a) state the name of the independent scrutineer and clearly specify the address to which, and the date by which, it is to be returned, (b) be given one of a series of consecutive whole numbers every one of which is used in giving a different number in that series to each voting paper printed or otherwise produced for the purposes of the election, and (c) be marked with its number. (3) Where a person chooses to vote by postal voting, the person votes by marking the voting paper sent to them. . (8) In section 51A (counting of votes etc. by independent person) for the heading substitute “Postal voting: counting of votes etc. by independent person”. (9) After section 51A insert— Electronic voting Electronic voting 51B Where electronic voting is a selected means of voting for an election, Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule A1A apply in relation to electronic voting at the election (and Part 4 of that Schedule applies for the purposes of Parts 1 and 2). Hybrid voting Hybrid voting 51C Where hybrid voting is a selected means of voting for an election, Parts 1 and 3 of Schedule A1A apply in relation to hybrid voting at the election (and Part 4 of that Schedule applies for the purposes of Parts 1 and 3). Elections: further provision . (10) In section 52 (scrutineer’s report)— (a) in subsection (1)— (i) in the words before paragraph (a), after “state” insert “, so far as relevant”; (ii) omit paragraph (a); (iii) after paragraph (a) insert— (aa) the means of voting by which votes have been cast at the election, (ab) the number of persons who were entitled to vote at the election, ; (iv) after paragraph (b) insert— (ba) the number of electronic voting forms submitted, ; (v) in paragraph (d), at the end insert “and electronic voting forms submitted”; (vi) omit the “and” after paragraph (d); (vii) after paragraph (e) insert— (f) the number of submitted electronic voting forms which were discounted by the scrutineer following a request from the person who submitted the electronic voting form, and (g) the changes made to permissions to access and edit the electronic voting system during the election. ; (b) in subsection (2)(b), for the words from “the production” to the end substitute “the following matters, so far as relevant, included all such security arrangements as were reasonably practicable for the purpose of minimising the risk that any unfairness or malpractice might occur— (i) the production, storage, distribution, return or other handling of the voting papers used at the election; (ii) the production, distribution and storage of voting access methods and the maintenance of the electronic voting system; (iii) the counting of the votes, . (11) After section 53 insert— Small accidental failures in relation to electronic voting to be disregarded 53A (1) If— (a) in relation to an election there is a failure (or there are failures) to comply with a provision mentioned in subsection (2) or with more than one of those provisions, and (b) the failure is accidental and on a scale which is unlikely to affect the result of the election or, as the case may be, the failures are accidental and taken together are on a scale which is unlikely to affect the result of the election, the failure (or failures), in so far as they relate to electronic voting, are to be disregarded for all purposes. (2) The provisions are— (a) section 48(1)(b) (requirement to distribute election addresses); (b) section 49(7A) (requirement to send contact information to scrutineer); (c) section 51(4)(b) (requirement to provide a convenient opportunity to vote); (d) section 51ZA(2)(c) (requirement to send provision concerning how votes are counted where a person casts multiple votes); (e) paragraph 12(1) of Schedule A1A (requirement to send electronic voting materials); (f) paragraph 12(4) of Schedule A1A (requirement to use contact information provided by trade union). . (12) In section 60 (overseas members), in subsection (3), for the words from “, section 51” to the end substitute — (a) the following provisions, so far as applicable, apply in relation to the member— (i) section 46A (responsible person’s determination of means of voting); (ii) section 51 (voting); (iii) section 51ZA (counting of votes where multiple votes cast by same person); (iv) section 51ZB (postal voting); (v) section 51ZC (postal voting: voting paper and method of voting); (vi) section 51B (electronic voting); (vii) section 51C (hybrid voting); (viii) Schedule A1A (certain requirements relating to electronic voting and hybrid voting); (b) nothing in section 47 (candidates) or section 50 (entitlement to vote) applies in relation to an overseas member or in relation to a vote cast by such a member. .