Annual reporting of industrial action

Starting from 1 March 2017, the TUA 16 has imposed a new statutory duty on unions to report annually on industrial action. Specifically, the union must make an annual return to the certification officer (CO) of all industrial action “taken in response to any inducement” by the union. This must detail the nature of any trade dispute and industrial action and when any action was taken. The union must also disclose the results of any industrial action ballot held during the year, including a detailed breakdown of the ballot results (section 32ZA, TULRCA).

The information must be added to Form AR21 – the existing trade union annual return on membership and funding, which must be filed before 1 June “in the calendar year following that to which it relates” (section 32(2), TULRCA).

Failure to comply in full can lead to a legal enforcement order (equivalent to a court order) and financial penalties of between £200 and £20,000.

A key government aim of this change, when first proposed, was to force unions to either endorse or disown unofficial protests (leverage) in which their members participate. In practice, the new duty provides yet another opportunity for union-busting organisations to report unions to the CO (see page 18).