Trade union facility time

Local authorities must publish the following information on trade union facility time.

These figures cover the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Total number (absolute number and full time equivalent) of staff who are union representatives

The Council recognises UNISON and GMB for its corporate staff. The number of relevant union officials during 2021/22 was 5. All relevant union officials were employed on a full-time basis at the end of the period, however the full-time equivalent aggregate is approximately 4.8 due to the fact that one relevant union official was working on a term-time only basis until 14.02.2022.

Relevant union officials are union representatives who are formally seconded to trade union duties.

The Council’s recognised trade unions also have a number of workplace representatives who may undertake some union duties on an ad hoc basis. This type of involvement tends to involve a very small amount of time, typically during a representative’s working day and without a material impact on service delivery, and there is no realistic way of accurately recording it.

Percentage of time spent on facility time

Percentage of contracted hours spent on trade union duties.

50 to 100 percent, 3 union officials

100 percent, 2 union officials

The Council has arrangements in place in order to allow seconded representatives to support staff within partner organisations (e.g. The Barnet Group, Capita). These arrangements are defined in contracts which predate the 2017 Regulations; facility time tends to be part of a ‘package’ of the parties’ rights and obligations and there is limited/no separate accounting for it.

Costs of trade union facility time

Total cost of trade union facility time (including pension and employer’s National Insurance Contributions): £199,156.38

Total pay bill:  £66,407,658.48

The ‘total pay bill’ figure includes basic pay but excludes additional payments to staff such as standby allowances or reimbursement of business travel expenses.

Percentage of the total pay bill spent on facility time: 0.3%