UK government consults on workplace monitoring technologies

It is early days, but this is a consultation worth having on your radar as most employers use technology to some extent to monitor, manage, or make decisions about staff.

The driver for this consultation is the rapid growth in the use of AI, which is changing the digital workplace beyond recognition. This has not escaped the attention of the government. Far from it. It is promoting AI to drive growth but at the same time it needs to be clear to workers the ways in which these technologies are being used, as well as to ensure they are fair, accountable and reliable.

On July 8, 2026, the government launched a consultation on workplace monitoring technologies (WMT), as part of its Employment Rights Act 2025 reform agenda. The consultation is open until September 30, 2026, and the government is inviting views from “all parts of society”.

What counts as WMT?

The consultation casts a wide net. It covers “standard” monitoring such as access control, attendance tracking, email and communications monitoring but also technology used in decisions affecting workers, including algorithmic management and solely automated decision making, i.e., decisions made without meaningful human involvement.

The balancing act

The consultation is candid about both sides. Used well, WMT can boost productivity, support compliance, reduce misconduct, and even improve health and safety and well-being insight. Used poorly, it risks privacy and autonomy harms (think capturing more personal information than is needed, or narrowing how much discretion workers have over their own day-to-day work), disproportionate surveillance, biased outcomes from incomplete or inaccurate data, and erosion of trust if workers can’t understand or challenge decisions affecting them.

Employee voice

A recurring theme throughout is the emphasis on meaningful worker voice. It stresses that engagement with staff and, where relevant, trade unions is central to getting the balance right in practice, not just a compliance afterthought. It would not surprise me if the trade unions use their new access rights to workplaces from the autumn as a springboard into the workplace.

What “good practice” might look like

Ahead of any policy decision, the consultation sets out eight good practice themes worth being familiar with:

• purpose and rationale
• transparency and understanding
• worker engagement and voice
• fairness and equality
• necessity, proportionality and privacy
• human oversight and accountability
• dignity and well-being
• accuracy, reliability and review.

These map closely onto existing data protection and equality law obligations, but the consultation suggests current practice doesn’t always live up to them.

What might change?

The government hasn’t pre-judged the outcome. It’s testing three broad options:

1. A statutory code of practice with guidance (clearer expectations without new primary legislation, though it would not itself create new legal obligations or tribunal claims; tribunals would simply be able to take it into account)
2. A legislative duty to consult and negotiate with workers on WMT (a more mandatory, but also more operationally burdensome, approach)
3. Non-statutory guidance (flexible, but potentially less effective at driving change)

Responses will feed into a final policy proposal, but there’s a fair distance to travel yet.

What should employers do now?

Nothing. That said, it is a good time to take stock and to understand what monitoring technologies are already in use, and how you’re currently communicating with, and engaging, your workforce on these tools. If you introduce any new WMT, assess it against the eight principles above, and document your findings.

We will keep watching this consultation and will update you as it develops.

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