TUC Equality Audit 2026
The passing of the Employment Rights Act into law in December 2025 was a seismic moment for the trade union movement. A new raft of protections for workers, across all industries and sectors, marked a step-change for unions both in terms of enhancing workers’ rights as well as our ability to organise and grow our movement.
At the heart of this new legislation is an opportunity for our movement to address the inequalities workers face in the labour market today. Precarious, insecure work – where women and Black workers are disproportionately represented – will be curbed, bringing in certainty and stability for those who need it most. New day one rights to sick pay, parental leave and new requirements about handling flexible working requests will support working parents, carers and disabled workers. And statutory rights for trade union equality representatives being introduced later this year will strengthen collective bargaining but also provide new organising opportunities across our movement.
This year’s equality audit focuses on what steps unions have taken in the last four years to promote equality in their membership, structures and processes, and to ensure they reflect the diversity of our membership. Building a diverse movement, that is reflective of our membership across all levels, is a crucial strategic priority for the TUC and something I have prioritised since becoming general secretary in 2023.
The findings of this audit show that as a movement we need to focus our efforts on organising young workers specifically. The future of our movement rests on our ability to build a diverse pipeline of future leaders. Investing in robust, inclusive structures is a key challenge for affiliates, but one which the TUC is ready to support.
For this audit, we also asked affiliates additional questions on the work they’re doing to counter the rise of the far and populist right in workplaces. In this report, you’ll see some really positive examples of unions rolling out comprehensive training, delivering impactful campaigns that reiterate the power of unions to improve working conditions for our members, and undertaking specific organising activity which grows our movement and underlines our principles or solidarity and equality.
With populist political actors claiming to stand for workers, while simultaneously attacking our hard-won rights, it’s vital that unions are able to effectively communicate the positive impact we have. Our challenge is to ensure that this work reaches all of our members; on the shop floor, in our public services, in industrial heartlands and for those working in the gig economy. Through our Unity Works campaign, we’ve been celebrating the rights trade unions have won, but also challenging our movement to unite around our calls for strong public services, fair taxes and secure, decent work that pays.
I hope you’ll find this report inspiring and motivating. We have a huge opportunity to grow our movement, ensuring equality is at the heart of what we fight for.
Paul Nowak
Overview
The TUC and our affiliates are committed to promoting equality in all aspects of our work. In 2003, we changed our rules to reflect this goal, and the biennial TUC Equality Audit is a key part of delivering on that commitment and tracking our progress. The audits alternate between examining collective bargaining for equality and exploring union efforts to improve representation and participation. The 2026 audit focuses on trade union representation and participation.
Questionnaires were sent to the 47 unions affiliated to the TUC. Completed questionnaires were received from 43 unions, which is 90 per cent of TUC affiliates. This is a higher response rate than for the last equivalent audit in 2022 when 41 out of 48 TUC affiliates participated (85 per cent).
The unions responding in 2026 represent 99 per cent of all TUC-affiliated union members (see Appendix). The audit data was collected and analysed by the Labour Research Department on behalf of the TUC.
The executive summary highlights two key themes: equality monitoring across membership and activist structures, and sexual harassment.
It’s worth noting that affiliates were asked additional questions regarding rules or objectives related to membership of far-right or racist political parties. 79 per cent of trade union members are affiliated to an organisation which prohibits membership of such groups. There is more detail on the work unions are doing to tackle the rise of the far and populist right included in the audit.
As part of our ongoing anti-racism work, affiliates were asked questions regarding their work on equality monitoring, diversity of membership and ethnicity pay gap reporting. This information will feed into our anti-racism data dashboard.
Monitoring equalities in membership and within activist structures
Equality monitoring
The audit looks at the number of unions who keep statistics on the diversity of their membership. Building a diverse membership, that is reflective of the broader workforce and society is crucial to ensure that affiliates are responding to the needs of members. To understand whether they reflect the full diversity of their membership, unions need to monitor the make-up of their members and representative structures. This means collecting disaggregated statistics, broken down by equality strand, across membership, activist roles and democratic structures. Several unions reported improvements in equality monitoring and data collection.
While the monitoring of women is widespread, the monitoring of Black, disabled and LGBT+ members drops substantially, especially among small unions. Compared with 2022, there has been a slight drop-off in the amount of monitoring except in the case of disabled members.
Over half of the unions had taken specific actions to recruit new members from various equalities groups, with 40 per cent of affiliates reporting activity to recruit more Black workers into their membership.
Data on young members is more likely to be collected than other characteristics, however the monitoring of young activists is inconsistent across unions. As unions seek to build diverse pipelines of activists, it is crucial that young workers are encouraged to become actively involved in union campaigns, bargaining and organising activities.
Monitoring of activists and union roles
Supporting members from all equality strands to become active within their union is a challenge that unions are working to address. Unions are generally more likely to monitor the representation of equalities groups at conferences and in their national executives than of workplace or branch-level roles such as equality reps and learning reps. Monitoring of equality reps is particularly limited, with only around half of unions collecting this information.
Capturing equality data for workplace representatives and activist is crucial to ensure affiliates are providing appropriate training and support, particularly when considering any reasonable adjustments reps may require to carry out their duties.
New statutory rights for equality reps, which come in to force later this year, will provide a significant opportunity for affiliates to support members to become more actively involved with their union. Equality reps in the workplace or branch raise awareness of equality concerns, help ensure equality is built into workplace consultation and bargaining, and support members who may face discrimination or harassment. Collecting data on equality representatives at this stage can help build a more diverse movement that responds to the concerns of all members.
Currently, around 85 per cent of members in unions responding to the audit are in unions who have a specific role or practice for overarching equality reps. Coverage is also relatively high for equality reps focusing on women, at around 73 per cent of members, but lower for Black members (around 53 per cent), young members (around 50 per cent), and disabled and LGBT+ members (both around 36 per cent).
The strongest growth appears to be in networks for Black members. In 2026, 19 unions reported having an informal network or group for Black members, making this the most common type of strand-specific informal structure. There were also 16 unions with informal women’s and LGBT+ networks, 13 with disabled members’ networks and 12 with young members’ networks. This investment in networks from affiliates is a positive step forward whilst retaining formal spaces where equality groups can influence union democratic decision making; you’ll find more details and examples within the report.
You will see from the report that many unions are seeking to ensure that the equality work they undertake is intersectional, focusing on the cross-section of issues members face and how elements of discrimination can interact. Unions have increasingly used joint advisory groups and seminars bringing together different equality strands to ensure equality work is not siloed.
Unions were also asked whether they monitor equality of access to the services they provide to all members. Just six unions (14 per cent) reported monitoring their general service provision to assess whether it delivers equality of access, although this rises to half of large unions. This suggests that, while many unions provide targeted services for particular groups, relatively few systematically assess whether their wider services are equally accessible across their membership.
Sexual harassment
In this year’s Equality Audit, unions were asked more detailed questions about the policies and procedures they have in place to prevent and respond to sexual harassment involving staff and members. New questions were included to reflect the Worker Protection Act 2023 (Amendment of Equality Act 2010), which came into effect in October 2024 and introduced a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of workers.
Many affiliates reported having undertaken work to protect their staff following the introduction of the Worker Protection Act. Encouragingly, unions also appear to be undertaking reviews, furthering their understanding of the issue and its impact and undertaking more risk assessments.
The TUC’s Building preventative cultures’ training has continued to be delivered through affiliates, with trainers working directly with unions to tailor content and reach all levels within organisations. Affiliates did however identify that finding appropriate trainers was sometimes difficult, and that while creating cultural change as part of plans to tackle sexual harassment remains a priority, this change can often be incremental and slow to progress.
From a member-facing perspective, unions reported new initiatives, clearer guidance and training for reps to ensure awareness of the new requirements. A third of unions told us they had reviewed their work for members on sexual harassment in light of the TUC report on Black women’s experiences of sexual harassment and misogynoir. Unions provided examples of intersectional work in this area. This has led to a greater understanding and greater confidence in reporting and handling case of sexual harassment.
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