Political funds


Political fund ballots must be conducted every 10 years. The law on political fund ballots is found in Chapter VI of TULRCA. A complaint can be made to the Certification Officer (CO) or the courts if any member believes a ballot has not followed the rules. The CO has prime responsibility for checking the finances and independence of unions and for assisting individuals with complaints against their unions.


The TUA16 contains new restrictions on the political fund which are not yet in force. This part of the Act encountered particularly fierce resistance in the House of Lords where the changes were widely recognised as a political attack by a government on opposition party funding. 


The government’s main proposal was to reverse the rules on membership contributions to the political fund, introducing “opting-in” to the political fund instead of “opting-out”, and requiring unions to renew each member’s “opt-in” notice every five years. 


In an unusual move, the House of Lords voted to appoint a cross-party select committee to investigate this aspect of the legislation. The Lords then amended the legislation to limit the introduction of the requirement to opt in to new members only. In addition, the requirement to renew the opt-in notice every five years has been removed and online methods of opt-in rather than just post are to be permitted. Unions are to have 12 months (instead of the three months originally proposed) to switch to the new “opt in” rules, once the legislation is in force.


Only money from a trade union’s political fund can be spent on political campaigning. Under section 11, TUA16 (new section 32ZB, TULRCA), trade unions will owe new annual reporting obligations to provide detailed information relating to their political funding during the year to the Certification Officer. 


Although the TUA16 has Royal Assent, regulations will be needed to bring the various parts of the Act into force.


These changes follow on from other recent restrictions on union political campaigning introduced under its Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014 (the Lobbying Act), limiting unions’ power to campaign during elections. There has always been a cap on election spending by third parties, including unions, but the last government used powers under the Lobbying Act to cut the maximum spending cap on election campaigning by third parties in the run up to a general election by around 60%. In addition, any union must register with the Electoral Commission if it intends to spend more than £20,000 in England or £10,000 in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland and must account in detail for its spending.