The Employment Act 2002

The Employment Act 2002 gives learning reps statutory rights to time off to undertake training and to carry out their duties.

The main provisions of the Act relating to learning reps and to learning are:

• ULRs will be entitled to reasonable paid time off to do their training and to carry out their duties;

• members will be allowed unpaid time off to consult their ULR (how this will be monitored is not specified); and

• ULRs will usually only act on behalf of members, but where public money is involved (for example, through learndirect), or where unions want to get everyone in a workplace involved, they will work with non members where appropriate.