Earlier this month Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude announced plans to reduce the amount of facility time taken in the civil service. This will cut the subsidy that unions receive at taxpayers’ expense. There would still be a substantial subsidy though, and the reforms do not yet apply to the broader public sector.
This research updates evidence that huge amounts of taxpayers’ money is given to trade unions through direct funding or paid staff time from public sector bodies. It also adds new information about the number of public sector bodies automatically deducting trade union subscriptions in the payroll process, often without charging the unions for that additional administrative support.