Certification Officer



The role of Certification Officer (CO) was created in 1975, as an independent and neutral agency appointed by the government in consultation with Acas, to regulate trade unions and employers’ associations. Its original functions and powers, set out in TULRCA, were fairly limited. They included administering the list of independent trade unions and certifying whether unions are independent;
ensuring annual returns are submitted on time and checking for any financial irregularity; considering complaints by members about union elections and ballots
and about union membership records;
resolving disputes between unions and their members as to the union rules; ensuring compliance with rules about inter-union mergers and
overseeing unions’ political funds and finances.


Extra powers and responsibilities were added by the Lobbying Act 2014 in connection with the new requirements for an annual “membership audit” (see above). These powers came into force on 1 June 2016. Guidance from the CO confirms that anyone, whether or not a member, can make a complaint to the CO alleging failure to comply with these obligations, and the CO can also consider “references in the media” alleging non-compliance. 


Even more extensive powers have been added by the TUA 16, transforming the CO into an enforcement agency, able to launch investigations into union decision-making processes at the request of third parties where no union member has complained (section 15 and 16 and schedules 1 to 3, TUA 16). These new powers are not yet in force. Once in force, the CO will have powers:


• to initiate an investigation into union activities whether or not a union member has complained or raised an issue of concern;



• to appoint investigators, either from the CO’s own staff or as an external appointment of the CO’s choosing, where there are “reasonable grounds to suspect” that a union has not complied with its statutory duties, and for these investigators to have the power to summon union officers to appear before them and to provide “all reasonable assistance” with the investigation;



• to demand immediate production by unions (including national officers or branch officials) of documents, including membership records (subject to a duty of confidentiality) and to take copies;



• to make declarations and enforcement orders when unions have failed to comply (for example, where a union has failed to produce documents or co-operate with an external inspector); and



• to impose financial penalties of up to £20,000.



A government consultation on the penalties to be imposed in connection with these new enforcement powers closed on 21 May 2017. Draft regulations, the Trade Union Financial Penalties Regulations, have been prepared but have not yet been enacted. 


There will also be a new levy on unions and employers’ associations to fund the CO’s running costs (section 18(1), TUA 16). These are likely to increase significantly given the CO’s expanded role. The government has conceded that the levy will not be used to pay the cost of external investigators. A consultation on the amount of the levy (but not on whether there should be a levy at all) closed on 26 October 2017. Under current government proposals, the levy will impose a far greater financial burden on unions than on employers’ associations. The CO will be responsible for administering the levy. 



These new powers, if implemented, are likely to place the government in breach of ILO standards, which state that unions must be free to draw up their own rules and administer their own affairs (Articles 3 and 5, ILO Convention No.87 — see page 130).



Writing in the CO’s Annual Report upon resigning his post in 2016, former CO, David Cockburn anticipated that the planned transformation of the role will result in unions facing a "myriad" of references to the CO by external organisations with something to gain. Cockburn also questioned whether the new role of the CO as "investigator, prosecutor and adjudicator" is compatible with the human right to a fair trial (Article 6, European Convention of Human Rights).