Further information


Legal sources and publications


Copies of relevant statutes can be obtained online at: www.legislation.gov.uk. In Northern Ireland, legislation is available online from the Labour Relations Agency website at: www.lra.org.uk. 


The majority of the cases referred to in this booklet are freely available to download from the website of the British and Irish Legal Information Institute: www.bailii.org. Some older cases (pre-2000) may not be available on the Bailii website. These cases will be published in hard copy law reports, such as the Industrial Relations Law Reports (IRLR) or the Industrial Cases Reports (ICR) which can be obtained from your local library. The Labour Research Department holds paper editions of the IRLR (but not the ICR) for the years from 1979-2008. 


First instance tribunal judgments (i.e. the judgments of an employment tribunal, as opposed to those of the EAT or higher courts) are not binding. As a result, they are not published and tend not to be publicly available. Sometimes where a claim has been brought with the support of a union, the union may be able to supply a copy of the tribunal’s written judgment. 


Local libraries may have copies of the statutes and can obtain the books and law reports. Always check the date of publication to make sure that the publication actually deals with the current law. 


The Labour Research Department (LRD) publishes booklets on specific legal issues. Relevant titles have been referred to throughout this booklet. LRD’s monthly pay and conditions journal, Workplace Report, provides up-to-date explanation of, and commentary on, all legal developments with quarterly updates on contracts, termination of employment, discrimination, TUPE and tribunal procedures. Information on LRD’s publications and details of how to order are available on the website at: www.lrdpublications.org.uk, or contact LRD, 78 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HF, tel: 020 7928 3649. 


Useful organisations


Information, guidance and Codes of Practice are available from the following:


Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), Euston Tower, 286 Euston Road, London NW1 3S5, helpline: 08457 474747, textphone: 08456 061600, publications: 08702 429090, www.acas.org.uk.


Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), makes awards of statutory recognition of trade unions and deals with union requests for disclosure of information (see Chapter 5), 22nd Floor, Euston Tower, 286 Euston Road, London NW1 3JJ, tel: 020 7904 2300, www.cac.gov.uk, [email protected]. 


Certification Officer, 22nd Floor, Euston Tower, 286 Euston Road, London NW1 3JJ, tel: 020 7210 3734, fax: 020 7210 3612, email: [email protected]. 


Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET, Enquiry Unit tel: 020 7215 5000, https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-innovation-skills.


Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), www.equalityhumanrights.com. The EHRC has offices in Manchester, London, Glasgow and Cardiff.


Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (EOCNI), Equality House, 7-9 Shaftesbury Square, Belfast, BT2 7DP, tel: 028 90 500600, textphone: 028 90 500589, enquiry line: 02890 890890, www.equalityni.org.


Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, PO Box 10272, Nottingham, NG2 9PB, tel: 0845 602 5020 or 0044 845 602 5020 (outside the UK), email: [email protected], www.gla.gov.uk.


HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Ministry of Justice, https://www.gov.uk/courts-tribunals/employment-tribunal. Enquiry line: 0300 123 1204, Minicom: 01509 221564.


Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, helpline: 0303 123 1113, https://ico.org.uk. 


Labour Relations Agency, 2-16 Gordon Street, Belfast BT1 2LG, tel: 028 9032 1442, www.lra.org.uk.


TUC, Congress House, 23-28 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS, tel: 020 7636 4030, fax: 020 7636 0632, www.tuc.org.uk.


TUC WorkSmart, www.worksmart.org.uk and Basic rights at work, www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-19833-f0.cfm.


TUC Unionlearn, provides courses for union reps on TUPE rights, including information and consultation rights, as well as courses on bargaining and organising in the new workplace. Individual unions also offer courses: www.unionlearn.org.uk.


TUC learning, provides a variety of free online multi-media resources for reps and activities, including e-notes — short interactive training sessions to look at in your own time, on a variety of legal and bargaining topics relevant to TUPE, including facility time and bargaining to build a stronger workplace union: https://www.tuceducation.org.uk.


Individual unions also provide useful and often sector-specific online resources for reps and activists.