GovWire

Certification Officer for Trade Unions and Employers Associations: press announcement

The Annual Report of the Certification Officer, Sarah Bedwell, was laid before Parliament on 14 July 2022. The report describes the work of the Certification Officer in 2021/22 and includes statistical information relating to trade unions and employers associations for 2020.

New Powers

The Certification Officers powers under the Trade Union Act 2016 were implemented, enabling her to:

• Impose a levy on trade unions and employers associations.
• Take proactive action against organisations who breach their statutory responsibilities.
• Impose financial penalties on organisations who have breached their rules or the law.

Review of the Lists

The office carried out a review of the official lists of trade unions and employers associations. This resulted in the removal of 11 trade unions (8% of the total) and 32 employers associations (38% of the total).

Trade Union membership and finances

Trade unions had almost 8 million members in 2020, an increase of 1% from 2019 and the first increase since 2017-2018. Total assets of trade unions increased by 4.5% to 2.6 billion.

Complaints

The Certification Officer issued decisions on 30 complaints. Of these, 12 were withdrawn, 11 struck out, four were upheld and three dismissed.

Political Funds

21 unions have Political Funds. The total amount held in those political funds was 52 million, an increase of 24% over the previous year.

Notes to editors:

• The Certification Officer is the independent regulator for trade unions, appointed by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

• Sarah Bedwell was appointed to the post on 1 January 2018.

Press enquiries please should be directed to:

Thomas Price, 0330 109 3613, 