UK Markets Watchdog Staff Win Bid to Push for Union Recognition

Staff at the Financial Conduct Authority got the green light to unionize, after the Labour government made it easier for trade unions to enter UK workplaces.

The Central Arbitration Committee, which helps resolve collective disputes in the workplace, accepted an application from unions Unite and the FDA Trade Union to represent over 5,000 employees at the UK’s markets regulator, in a decision published earlier this month.

Trade unions are increasingly pushing to get a seat at the table in UK workplaces, after the Labour government relaxed collective bargaining rules earlier this year. Since the reforms streamlining union submissions came into force in April recognition applications have doubled year-on-year. The 2026 applications list reveals unions are pushing into less traditional territory, including tech firms.

The FCA did not agree to recognize the two unions earlier this year.

The unions are now currently negotiating with the FCA over which employees — from department heads and below — would be covered by collective bargaining on pay, working hours and holidays. They would then need to win a workplace ballot to secure recognition, which could happen as early as December.

“We’ve cleared the first hurdle,” Robert Eagleton, national officer at the FDA Trade Union, said in a phone interview. “We’re very confident we’d win the ballot.”

The FCA and Unite did not reply to a Bloomberg request for comment.

Read More: Unions Are Making a Fresh Push Into UK Tech, Finance

Employees at the FCA are making a renewed bid to organize following an unsuccessful attempt four years prior. The CAC turned down Unite’s application in 2022 after the union failed to demonstrate majority support among the regulator’s workforce, a prerequisite that was subsequently eliminated as part of legislative reforms to employment rights in April.

Under the new rules, trade unions no longer have to prove the support of a majority of workers before they can apply for recognition. Instead, they only need a simple majority of votes cast. Such applications typically seek recognition for a specific group of workers, for example, warehouse staff at one depot or employees below a certain seniority level, rather than an entire company.

The union push is set to pick up pace in the coming months, with employers required to give trade unions access to workplaces to recruit members from Oct. 30, under the new workers’ rights package. This year’s submissions show that organized labor is increasingly targeting opportunities within the legal and tech sectors.