Payroll insight
Check-off and facility time
Mike Nicholas sets out the changes to the rules in respect of trade union contributions, deductions from wages and in respect of facility time for trade union officials
T _ he provisions of the Trade Union Act 2016 (‘the 2016 Act’), which received Royal Assent on 4 May 2016, will come into force on whatever day (or days) the Secretary of State for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills appoints in regulations made by statutory instrument. As yet, no date has been appointed. Section 84 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (TULRCA) is substituted by new provisions in section 11 of the 2016 Act. These provisions are about union members ‘opting-in’ in order to contribute to their union’s political fund. When in force, new section 84 will make it unlawful to require a trade union member to make a contribution to the political fund of a trade union if he/she has either not given to their union notice of his/ her willingness to contribute to that fund (an ‘opt-in notice’) or has given an opt-in withdrawal notice. The latter is to take effect at the end of the period of one month beginning with the day on which it is given. Trade unions will be required to take all reasonable steps to secure that not later than the end of the period of eight weeks beginning with the day on which the union’s annual return is sent to the certification officer, all members of that union are notified of their right to give a withdrawal notice. A trade union that has a political fund must either make a separate levy of contributions to that fund from the members who are contributors, or relieve members who are not contributors (i.e. a
member who has given to the union an opt-in notice that has not been withdrawn) from the payment of the appropriate portion of any periodical contribution required from members towards the expenses of the union. In the latter case, that relief shall be given as far as possible to all members who are not contributors on the occasion of the same periodical payment. These requirements apply only after the end of the transition period (which is a period of not less than twelve months, starting on the day on which the provisions come into force), and only to a person who: ● after the end of that period joins a trade union that has a political fund, or ● is a member of a trade union that has a political fund but did not have one immediately before the end of that period. Sections 13 to 15 of the 2016 Act make provisions in respect of facility time and check-off. Regulations may require relevant public sector employers (i.e. a public authority specified, or of a description specified, in the regulations, and which has at least one employee who is a relevant union official) to publish the following information relating to facility time for relevant union officials including, in particular: ● how many of an employer’s employees are relevant union officials, or relevant union officials within specified categories ● the total amount spent by an employer in a specified period on paying relevant
● the percentage of an employer’s total pay bill for a specified period spent on paying relevant union officials for facility time, or for specified categories of facility time ● the percentage of the aggregate amount of facility time taken by an employer’s relevant union officials in a specified period that was attributable to specified categories of duties or activities ● information relating to facilities provided by an employer for use by relevant union officials in connection with facility time. The regulations may make provision as to the times or intervals at which the information is to be published and as to the form in which the information is to be published. Section 15 of the 2016 Act inserts a new section 116B into TULRCA, setting out restrictions on deduction of union subscriptions from wages in the public sector (‘check-off’). When in force, section 116B will provide that a relevant public sector employer may make deductions from its workers’ wages in respect of trade union subscriptions only if: ● those workers have the option to pay their trade union subscriptions by other means, and ● arrangements have been made for the union to make reasonable payments to the employer in respect of the making of the deductions. Such payments are ‘reasonable’ if the employer is satisfied that the total amount of them is substantially equivalent to the total cost to public funds of making the deductions. An employer is a ‘relevant public sector employer’ if the employer is a public authority specified, or of a description specified, in regulations made by a government minister. n
union officials for facility time, or for specified categories of facility time
...for the union to make reasonable payments to the employer in respect of the making of the deductions
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Issue 25 | November 2016
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
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