Annual reporting duty — industrial action

Since 1 March 2017, unions must make an annual return to the Certification Officer (CO) of all industrial action “taken in response to any inducement” by the union, detailing the nature of the trade dispute and the industrial action, when the action was taken, and the results of any ballots, including a detailed breakdown of ballot results (sections 32ZA and 231, TULRCA). This information must be added to Form AR21 — the trade union annual return on membership, funding and other issues (see Chapter 5). It must be filed before 1 June “in the calendar year following that to which it relates” (section 32(2) TULRCA).

Non-compliance can lead to a legal enforcement order (equivalent to a court order) and a fine of up to £5,000 for the union, jointly with every responsible officer (section 45 TULRCA).