Certification Officer for Trade Unions and Employers’ Associations press announcement
The annual report of the Certification Officer, Sarah Bedwell, was laid before Parliament on 5 November 2024. The report describes the work of the Certification Officer in 2023/24 and includes statistical information relating to trade unions and employers’ associations for 2022 and 2023.
Lists of trade unions and employers’ associations
The number of trade unions on the Certification Officer’s list increased to 128 compared to 124 in the previous reporting year. This is due to 6 new organisations being added to the list and 2 being removed that were already listed. The number of employers’ associations listed reduced to 36 as 2 organisations were removed.
Trade union membership and finances
Trade union membership increased by 1.8% – from 5.4 million in 2021-2022 to 5.5 million in 2022-2023.
Total assets of trade unions saw an increase of 1.3 % from £2.27 billion to £2.3 billion.
Political funds
Twenty-one unions have political funds. The total amount reported as held in political funds was £33 million, an increase of 10% compared to the previous year.
Complaints
The Certification Officer issued decisions on 9 complaints from members against their trade unions. Of these, two were upheld with one enforcement being made, 5 were withdrawn by the applicants and 2 were dismissed.
Powers from the Trade Union Act 2016
The amendments brought in by The Trade Union Act 2016 mean that trade unions and employers’ associations are required to pay a levy to fund the costs of the Certification Officer’s office. The first levy collection was completed in the reporting year.
The total costs which need to be funded, for this year, through the levy are £607,444, a decrease on last year due to cost savings.
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 did not receive information from any source that she considered provided sufficient grounds to engage these powers.
Notes to editors
- The Certification Officer is the independent regulator for trade unions, appointed by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. 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.
Please direct any press enquiries to
0330 109 3602, info@certoffice.org
