Do UK employers have to consult staff about AI changes?

When software starts to allocate work, set targets or take over tasks, it can change how a whole workplace is organised. In Great Britain, larger employers can be required to inform and consult their staff about changes like that, even where no union is recognised. The rules are in the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004 (the ICE Regulations). This page explains when they apply and what they require.

The short answer: the ICE Regulations apply to undertakings with at least 50 employees in the UK whose registered office, head office or principal place of business is in Great Britain (reg 3, Schedule 1). They do not apply automatically. Employees can trigger them with a written request from at least 2% of the workforce, subject to a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 2,500 employees (reg 7). The employer then has to negotiate an information and consultation agreement. If it does not, standard rules apply, and these include consulting on decisions likely to lead to substantial changes in work organisation, with a view to reaching agreement (reg 20).

Does the business have enough employees?

The count is the average number of employees over the previous twelve months: take the number employed in each month, add the monthly figures together and divide by 12 (reg 4(1) and (2)). The employer may count someone as half an employee for a month in which their contract would have them work 75 hours or less, on the basis set out in reg 4(3). A business that has existed for less than twelve months uses the number of months it has existed instead (reg 4(4)).

An employee or an employees' representative can ask the employer in writing, with a date, for the data needed to work out the headcount and what 2% of the workforce comes to, and the employer must provide it (reg 5).

Starting the process: an employee request

A valid employee request can be one request made by at least 2% of employees, or several separate requests that together reach 2% within a period of six months (reg 7(2)). If 2% would be fewer than 15 people, 15 are needed; if it would be more than 2,500, 2,500 are enough (reg 7(3)). Each request must be in writing, give the names of the employees making it and the date it is sent, and go either to the employer's registered office, head office or principal place of business or to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) (reg 7(4)). If it goes to the CAC, the CAC tells the employer, asks for the information it needs to check the numbers and names, and tells both sides how many employees have made the request (reg 7(5)).

The employer can also start the process itself by publishing a written notification to employees (reg 11).

If there is already an agreement

Where the request comes from fewer than 40% of employees and there are already one or more written agreements that cover all employees, were approved by them, and set out how the employer informs them or their representatives and seeks their views, the employer may hold a ballot instead of starting negotiations straight away (reg 8(1) and (2)). It must tell employees in writing within one month of the request that it intends to ballot, and the ballot cannot take place until 21 days after that (reg 8(3)). The request is endorsed if at least 40% of the employees in the undertaking and a majority of those voting vote in favour; if it is endorsed, the employer must start negotiations, and if not, the duty to negotiate falls away (reg 8(5) and (6)).

Negotiating an agreement

To start negotiations, the employer must arrange for employees to elect or appoint negotiating representatives so that every employee is represented, tell employees in writing who the representatives are, and invite them to negotiate (reg 14(1) and (2)). Negotiations can last up to six months, starting at the end of three months from the date of the valid request or notification, and the parties can agree to extend that period (reg 14(3) and (5)).

A negotiated agreement must cover all employees, be in writing, be dated, be signed by or for the employer, and set out the circumstances in which the employer must inform and consult (reg 16(1)). It can provide for elected or appointed information and consultation representatives, or for the employer to inform and consult employees directly. Where it requires information about the employment situation, that must include suitable information about the use of agency workers. It counts as approved if all the negotiating representatives sign it, or if a majority sign it and it is approved in writing by at least 50% of employees or in a ballot where at least 50% of those voting are in favour (reg 16(3)).

The Regulations leave the content of a negotiated agreement to the parties. An agreement can therefore say expressly that the introduction of automated decision-making, monitoring tools or AI systems that change work is something the employer must inform and consult about.

The standard rules if no agreement is reached

If the employer does not start negotiations after a valid request, or no agreement is reached within the negotiating period, the standard information and consultation provisions apply (reg 18). The employer must then hold a ballot to elect information and consultation representatives: one per 50 employees or part of 50, with at least 2 and no more than 25 (reg 19).

Under the standard provisions, the employer must give the representatives information on (reg 20(1)):

• the recent and probable development of the undertaking's activities and economic situation;
• the situation, structure and probable development of employment within the undertaking, including the use of agency workers and any anticipatory measures envisaged, in particular where employment is under threat; and
• decisions likely to lead to substantial changes in work organisation or in contractual relations, including collective redundancies and business transfers.

The employer must consult on the second and third points (reg 20(3)). The information must be given at a time, in a way and with content that lets the representatives study it properly and prepare for consultation (reg 20(2)). Consultation must be appropriate in timing, method and content, based on the employer's information and the representatives' opinion. It must let the representatives meet the relevant level of management and get a reasoned response. On decisions about substantial changes in work organisation or contractual relations, it must be carried out with a view to reaching agreement on decisions within the employer's powers (reg 20(4)).

A plan to bring in software that reallocates tasks across teams, replaces a function or changes how performance is measured can fall within these points, depending on its scale and effect. The duty to consult on a particular decision under these rules stops once the employer becomes subject to the collective redundancy or TUPE consultation duties and notifies the representatives in writing that it will consult under those rules instead (reg 20(5)). A failure by a parent company or other controlling person to give the employer information is not a valid reason for failing to inform and consult (reg 20(6)).

Confidential and withheld information

An employer can share information on terms that it is kept confidential. A representative or other person who receives it must not disclose it except as those terms allow, and a breach can be actioned by the employer, unless the person reasonably believed the disclosure was a protected disclosure under whistleblowing law (reg 25). The recipient can ask the CAC whether it was reasonable to require confidentiality. If the CAC finds that disclosure would not, or would not be likely to, harm the legitimate interests of the undertaking, the information stops being treated as confidential (reg 25(6) to (8)).

The employer does not have to disclose information where, on objective criteria, disclosure would seriously harm the functioning of the undertaking or be prejudicial to it (reg 26). If there is a dispute about that, either side can apply to the CAC, which can order disclosure. For an AI project, that may matter where a vendor contract or commercial plans are involved, but the test is objective and the CAC decides it.

Enforcement

Where a negotiated agreement or the standard provisions apply, a representative (or, if there are none, an employee or employees' representative) can complain to the CAC that the employer has not complied, within three months of the failure (reg 22(1) to (3)). If the CAC upholds the complaint, it makes a declaration and can order the employer to take specified steps within a specified period. The applicant can then apply within three months to the Employment Appeal Tribunal for a penalty notice. The Appeal Tribunal must issue one unless the failure was beyond the employer's control or the employer had some other reasonable excuse (reg 22(4) to (7)). A CAC order does not suspend, alter or delay an act already done or a decision the employer proposes to take (reg 22(9)).

Protection for representatives and employees

Negotiating representatives and information and consultation representatives are entitled to reasonable paid time off during working hours to carry out their functions (reg 27, reg 28). Dismissal is treated as unfair if the reason or main reason is that an employee performed functions as a representative or candidate, or used those time-off rights (reg 30). The same applies to any employee dismissed for things such as requesting headcount data, supporting or opposing an agreement, standing for election, or voting in a ballot under the Regulations. Employees also have a right not to be subjected to a detriment on the same grounds (reg 32). These protections do not cover a disclosure in breach of a confidentiality duty, unless the employee reasonably believed it was a protected disclosure.

What this means in practice

• Employees: if the workplace has 50 or more employees and decisions about new systems are made without any consultation, a written request from 2% of staff (at least 15) can start the process.
• Employers: check whether an existing arrangement meets the reg 8 conditions, and consider agreeing one that names automated systems and AI as consultation topics before a request arrives.
• Both sides: when a large automation project also involves redundancies or an outsourcing transfer, the specific consultation rules for those take over once the employer gives written notice; see AI and layoffs and TUPE and outsourcing.

For the EU rules these Regulations sit alongside, see consulting staff about AI in the EU; for information a recognised union can demand for bargaining, see union disclosure of information. This page is general information on the law in Great Britain as at 2 November 2026, not legal advice.