Check-off arrangements 





Many employers with recognised unions have long-standing check-off payroll arrangements so that membership subs can be deducted from pay and sent to the union. You can agree to pay your subs in this way when you become a member. You need to provide your written agreement to payment by check-off, as this is a deduction from wages (see Chapter 4). 





There is no statutory right to pay union subs through check-off. The government originally planned to use the Trade Union Act 2016 to ban the use of check off throughout the public sector, as well as in private and voluntary sector workplaces that are mainly publicly funded, until union campaigning led to a significant government climb-down. 



New regulations, the Trade Union (Deduction of Union Subscriptions from Wages in the Public Sector) Regulations 2017, came into force in England and Scotland on 10 March 2018. Under these regulations, public sector employers (and the private sector employers listed in the regulations) can operate check off arrangements as long as the union pays the reasonable costs of administration and
members are given the choice of paying membership dues by other means, such as direct debit or cheque (section 15, TUA 16, section 116B, TULRCA). 




Under the regulations, the “reasonable” costs that the union must pay must be “substantially equivalent” to the actual administrative cost of running check off. These actual costs are nominal.



The position in Wales is different. These new restrictions on check off do not apply to any of the devolved public services in Wales (see page 137). The TUA 16 does not apply in Northern Ireland. 




Some members have a contractual right to check-off. This can be express (usually found in the statement of employment particulars or a staff handbook) or implied (for example, based on custom and practice). During 2015, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), HM Revenue and Customs and the Home Office were among several large government departments that unilaterally withdrew check-off facilities from members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), jeopardising the union’s finances. The union's response included a legal claim for breach of contract against the DWP which ended in October 2018 with an out of court settlement of nearly £3 million. There is more information about this successful campaign on the union’s website. 


Whether or not members have a contractual right to pay their subs through check off will depend on their individual contract terms (see Chapter 3).