Membership audit


In 2014, new burdens on union administration were introduced, under the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014. These changes added a new duty on unions to send a membership audit certificate to the Certification Officer (section 24, TULRCA).


Unions with more than 10,000 members must appoint a “qualified independent person” (as determined by the secretary of state) to act as an “assurer”. This assurer will have access to members’ personal details and be responsible for certifying that the trade union’s system for compiling and maintaining the register meets the requirements of section 24.



A union with up to 10,000 members can self-certify. 



Unions fear that these new laws may allow external parties to access members’ names, addresses and other information, which could fall into the wrong hands. The TUC warned that it makes sensitive personal data open to far too many people, raising new fears about union blacklisting. The government consultation on the new laws claimed that there are safeguards to ensure confidentiality of membership data, but former TUC general secretary Lord Monks, who argued against these new powers in the House of Lords, noted that “every other country keeps the state and employers out of union membership records”.


The new rules on trade union administration applied from unions’ first reporting years which began on or after 6 April 2015.