Membership audit

Unions must send an annual membership audit certificate to the Certification Officer (section 24, TULRCA).

Unions with over 10,000 members must also appoint a “qualified independent person” (as determined by the secretary of state) to act as an “assurer”. This assurer will have access to members’ personal details and be responsible for certifying that the trade union’s system for compiling and maintaining the register meets the requirements of section 24, TULRCA.Unions with up to 10,000 members can self-certify. Unions strongly opposed this requirement, which was introduced by the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 (the Lobbying Act). As former TUC general secretary Lord Monks, noted when arguing against these new powers in the House of Lords, “every other country keeps the state and employers out of union membership records”.