Trade union representatives in the public sector are entitled to take time off from their regular job in order to carry out their trade union role. This is known as facility time and can be paid or unpaid depending on what tasks are being performed. In some cases, public sector employees are seconded from their regular job to work full time on trade union tasks, while still being paid by taxpayers. This note shows the number of trade union representatives in the public sector for 2023-24, revealing the growing cost of facility time to taxpayers.
The facility time debate
Trade unions argue that facility time provides several benefits. A 2012 report commissioned by UNISON that relied primarily on the testimony of union branch secretaries and their contacts (which were overwhelmingly trade union members),[1],[2],[3] found that without facility time, workplace relations and communication would deteriorate, and taxpayers would be forced to pay for formal disciplinary procedures and employment tribunals.[4]
Unlike internal human resource departments, trade union representatives are ultimately accountable to their union and not taxpayers. Trade union members decide whether the union’s services are worth the cost and can cancel their membership if not. Indeed, the proportion of public sector employees who are members of trade unions has been trending downwards since records began in 1995.[5] In contrast, taxpayers cannot choose to stop paying for facility time whether the benefits are delivered or not.
The future of trade union facility time
Since the Trade Union Act 2016, public sector organisations have been required to publish trade union facility time data.[6] However, this may soon come to an end as Labour’s plan to repeal and replace the Trade Union Act 2016 with their employment rights bill will further tip the scales in favour of trade unions over taxpayers. It would remove the requirement to publish facility time information, prevent ministers from limiting the amount of paid facility time.[7] In addition it enshrines the presumption that a union representative’s view of “reasonable” paid facility time is always correct unless proven otherwise at a tribunal.[8]
It is notable that although public sector employers are still required to publish facility time information for 2023-24, there was a significant decline in the number of organisations reporting the data compared to previous years. Taxpayers deserve to know how much public funds are spent on trade union work, so they can judge for themselves whether it is delivering value for money.
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Key findings
- In 2023-24, there were at least 21,639 trade union representatives costing £98.2 million across the public sector. This included:
- 993 who spent 100 per cent of their working hours on facility time.
- 438 who spent 51 to 99 per cent of their working hours on facility time.
- Bradford city council had 42 employees spending 100 per cent of their working hours on facility time, the most of any public sector organisation in 2023-24. This was a fourfold increase from 11 in 2022-23.
- Transport for London had the most expensive facility time bill, £7.9 million in 2023-24.
- The Department for Work and Pensions had the most trade union representatives in 2023-24, with 987 costing £812,000. This was followed by HM Revenue and Customs, which had 823 trade union representatives costing over £2 million.
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[1] UNISON branch secretaries were asked to forward the invitation to participate to anyone else with an interest in facility time, particularly HR personnel or managers. However, non-trade union participants made up only 20 of the 129 submissions.
[2] Mitchell, M, Coutinho, S, & Morrell, G., The Value of Trade Union Facility Time, NatCen, June 2012, p.4.
[3] Ibid, p.27.
[4] Ibid, p.11.
[5] Department of Business & Trade, Trade Union Membership, UK 1995-2023: Statistical Bulletin, 29 May 2024, p.17.
[6] Cabinet Office, Public-sector trade union facility time data, 30 January 2025, www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/public-sector-trade-union-facility-time-data, (accessed 19 February 2024).
[7] Department for Business and Trade, Repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016 Impact Assessment, 21 October 2024, p.5.
[8] Morrison, L, & Azuh, W., Employment Rights Bill: a new era for industrial relations?, UK Employment Hub, 4 November 2024, www.ukemploymenthub.com/employment-rights-bill-a-new-era-for-industrial-relations, (accessed 18 February 2025).