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 6 July 2023. The report describes the work of the Certification Officer in 2022/23 and includes statistical information relating to trade unions and employers associations for 2021.

Lists of trade unions and employers associations

The office completed a review of the official lists of trade unions and employers associations in the reporting year. The review began in September 2021. It resulted in the removal of a total of 43 employers associations and 19 trade unions. This was 51% and 13% respectively of the organisations that were on the list on 31 March 2021.

One new trade union was added to the list during 2022/23.

Trade union membership and finances

Trade union membership decreased by 19% from 6.7 million in 2020-2021 to 5.4 million in 2021-2022.

Total assets of trade unions decreased by 11.5% from 2.6 billion to 2.3 billion.

Political funds

Twenty-one unions have political funds. The total amount held in those political funds was 30 million, a decrease of 42% compared to the previous year.

Complaints

The Certification Officer issued decisions on 27 complaints from members against their trade unions. Of these, 1 was withdrawn, 15 struck out, 3 were upheld and 8 dismissed.

New powers

The amendments brought in by The Trade Union Act 2016 mean that trade unions and employers associations are now required to pay a levy to fund the costs of the Certification Officers office. The total costs which need to be funded, for this year, through the levy are 656,672.

The amendments also allow the Certification Officer to:

• Consider whether an organisation has breached certain statutory responsibilities without having first received a complaint from a member of that organisation or another eligible party.
• Impose a financial penalty order or conditional financial penalty order where she finds that an organisation has breached its statutory responsibilities and/or its rules.

The Certification Officer considered the use of those powers on two occasions but concluded that it was not appropriate to engage them in the circumstances.

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.

• All figures are taken from the annual returns received from organisations during the reporting year.

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