Annual Report to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and the Chair of ACAS on the activities of the Certification Officer
Certification Officer for Trade Unions and Employers' Associations: press announcement
The annual report of the Certification Officer, Sarah Bedwell, was laid before Parliament on 7 July 2025. The report describes the work of the Certification Officer in 2024/25 and includes statistical information relating to trade unions and employers' associations for 2023 and 2024.
Lists of trade unions and employers' associations
There were changes to the list of trade unions on the Certification Officer's list with 4 trade unions being removed and 4 new organisations being added. Therefore, the total number of listed trade unions was 128, the same number as in the previous reporting year. The number of employers' associations remained stable at 36 with no changes.
Trade union membership and finances
Reported trade union membership increased by 21.8% - from 5.5 million in 2022-2023 to 6.7 million in 2023-2024. However, this was mainly because of the inclusion of Unite the Union's membership of 1.2 million which was not included last year.
Total assets of trade unions saw a decrease of 1.3% from £2.30 billion to £2.27 billion.
Political funds
Twenty unions reported on their political funds. The total amount held in those political funds was £35.8 million, an increase of 7.8% compared to the previous year.
Complaints
The Certification Officer issued decisions on 13 complaints from members against their trade unions. Of these, 4 complaints were withdrawn by the applicants, 3 were struck out, 5 were dismissed following hearings and 1 was upheld with 1 enforcement order being made.
Powers from the Trade Union Act 2016
The amendments brought in by The Trade Union Act 2016 mean that trade unions and employers' associations are required to pay a levy to fund the costs of the Certification Officer's office. The second levy collection was completed in the reporting year.
The total costs which need to be funded, for this year, through the third levy are £615,146, an increase on last year's figure of £607,444 due to implementing the agreed public sector pay increase.
The amendments also allow the Certification Officer to:
- Consider whether an organisation has breached certain statutory responsibilities without having first received a complaint from a member of that organisation or another eligible party.
- Impose a financial penalty order or conditional financial penalty order where she finds that an organisation has breached its statutory responsibilities and/or its rules.
There was one breach of the statutory election requirements which was brought to the Certification Officer's attention by the trade union concerned. The Certification Officer agreed that the breach had occurred and made an order to remedy the breach.
The Certification Officer did not see cause to make any financial penalty or conditional financial penalty order in relation to any of the beaches that she found (either arising from members' complaints or otherwise).
Notes:
The Certification Officer is the independent regulator for trade unions, appointed by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. Sarah Bedwell was appointed to the post on 1 January 2018 and retired on 31 May 2025. Michael Kidd was appointed as Interim Certification Officer from 1 June 2025.
All figures are taken from the annual returns received from organisations during the reporting year.
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