New limited life of ballot mandate

For all ballots opened on or after 1 March 2017, section 9 of the TUA has limited the life of the ballot mandate. Under the regime that preceded the TUA 16, as long as industrial action started within four weeks of the ballot (or up to eight weeks with the employer’s agreement), the ballot mandate stayed intact for as long as the dispute continued. This allowed negotiations to continue, set against the backdrop of a credible on-going industrial action threat.

The TUA 16 has removed the requirement for unions to start their industrial action within four weeks. But at the same time, the life of the ballot mandate has been limited to just six months. The parties are allowed to agree an extension of up to three months (section 234, TULRCA, section 9, TUA 16).

This means in practice that if a dispute has not been resolved within six months of the date the ballot closes, the union must re-ballot in order to continue the industrial action (see also Chapter 11: Union responses to the TUA 16).