New annual reporting duty — industrial action 



From 1 March 2017, the TUA 16 imposes a new statutory duty on trade unions to report annually on industrial action. Specifically, unions must make an annual return to the Certification Officer (CO) of all industrial action “taken in response to any inducement” by the union, detailing the nature of the trade dispute and the industrial action, when the action was taken, and the results of any ballots, including a detailed breakdown of the ballot results (section 32ZA, TULCRA, section 231, TULRCA, section 7, TUA 16).


The information must be added to Form AR21 – the existing trade union annual return on membership, funding and other issues (see Chapter 5) which must be filed before 1 June “in the calendar year following that to which it relates” (section 32(2), TULRCA).


Failure to comply fully with the new reporting duty can lead to a legal enforcement order (equivalent to a court order) and financial penalties of up to £20,000 (sections 16, 17, and Schedule 1, TUA 16, Schedule 3, Paragraph 6(3), TULRCA).