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Taxpayers' money spent on union salaries
Whitehall departments are spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money paying the salaries of trade union officials.
By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent
Published: 8:00AM BST 20 Jun 2012
Ministries and Government agencies spent more than £17 million paying staff to carry out “trade union activities” last year.
Some departments are paying staff to work full-time on trade union business.
And some full-time civil servants spend three days a work carrying out union activities and still receive a full salary from the Government.
Public spending on union activities was disclosed in official figures released to MPs.
The Ministry of Justice said it paid its staff to carry out 43,208 days of trade union activity in 2008/09. The estimated total salary cost to the taxpayer was £6.5 million.
HM Revenue and Customs paid its staff for 48,902 days of union activity during, at a cost of £5,918,065
In the current financial year, the Department for Work and Pensions has budgeted to pay its staff to carry out 42,460 days of trade union activity, at an estimated cost of more than £5 million.
Several ministries said they effectively employ full-time union representatives at public expense.
The Department of Children, Schools and Families pays the salaries of four members of staff engaged in “national full-time trade union activity”. Their annual wage bill is £118,000.
The Department of Communities and Local Government employs two full time union workers at a cost of £95,000. It also spent £192,000 paying part-time union workers for their union activities.
The Department for International Development said it has one full-time staff member “allocated to undertake trade union activities” and paid £30,000 to £35,000
At the Treasury, one senior official spends three days a week on trade union activity.
Other Government bodies that confirmed they are paying for union activity include the Crown Prosecution Service, which spent £535,915 last year, the Treasury Solicitor’s Department, which spent £37,212, and the Royal Parks, which spent £29,333.
The total annual bill for trade union activity in Whitehall is likely to be significantly higher than £17 million, because several ministries and agencies have refused to provide figures for their spending.
The union representatives being paid by the Government are understood to be from a number of unions.
Many are members of the Public and Commercial Services Union and Prospect. Some based outside Whitehall are believed to be members of Unite, the union behind the British Airways strike.
Union representatives have had a statutory right to “reasonable paid
time off” to carry out trade union duties since 1975.
Labour gave union representatives more rights to paid time off in 2002, passing a new law allowing union members paid time off for union training courses.
The Daily Telegraph disclosed yesterday Unite and its component unions have been given £18 million by the Government for training courses from its Union Learning Fund.
Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said union representatives should not get public money for their union work.
He said: “There is no reason why taxpayers should subsidise the trade unions at all, and this multi-million pound bill must be stopped. The unions are explicitly political organisations, and they should make do with what money they can raise from their members.
“Many taxpayers will be horrified to learn that their money is being used to fund the unions and their big-state, high tax message. It is bad enough that they are issuing threats of strike action, but having to pay for the people organising the strikes adds insult to injury.”
Taxpayers' money spent on union salaries
Whitehall departments are spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money paying the salaries of trade union officials.
By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent
Published: 8:00AM BST 20 Jun 2012
Ministries and Government agencies spent more than £17 million paying staff to carry out “trade union activities” last year.
Some departments are paying staff to work full-time on trade union business.
And some full-time civil servants spend three days a work carrying out union activities and still receive a full salary from the Government.
Public spending on union activities was disclosed in official figures released to MPs.
The Ministry of Justice said it paid its staff to carry out 43,208 days of trade union activity in 2008/09. The estimated total salary cost to the taxpayer was £6.5 million.
HM Revenue and Customs paid its staff for 48,902 days of union activity during, at a cost of £5,918,065
In the current financial year, the Department for Work and Pensions has budgeted to pay its staff to carry out 42,460 days of trade union activity, at an estimated cost of more than £5 million.
Several ministries said they effectively employ full-time union representatives at public expense.
The Department of Children, Schools and Families pays the salaries of four members of staff engaged in “national full-time trade union activity”. Their annual wage bill is £118,000.
The Department of Communities and Local Government employs two full time union workers at a cost of £95,000. It also spent £192,000 paying part-time union workers for their union activities.
The Department for International Development said it has one full-time staff member “allocated to undertake trade union activities” and paid £30,000 to £35,000
At the Treasury, one senior official spends three days a week on trade union activity.
Other Government bodies that confirmed they are paying for union activity include the Crown Prosecution Service, which spent £535,915 last year, the Treasury Solicitor’s Department, which spent £37,212, and the Royal Parks, which spent £29,333.
The total annual bill for trade union activity in Whitehall is likely to be significantly higher than £17 million, because several ministries and agencies have refused to provide figures for their spending.
The union representatives being paid by the Government are understood to be from a number of unions.
Many are members of the Public and Commercial Services Union and Prospect. Some based outside Whitehall are believed to be members of Unite, the union behind the British Airways strike.
Union representatives have had a statutory right to “reasonable paid
time off” to carry out trade union duties since 1975.
Labour gave union representatives more rights to paid time off in 2002, passing a new law allowing union members paid time off for union training courses.
The Daily Telegraph disclosed yesterday Unite and its component unions have been given £18 million by the Government for training courses from its Union Learning Fund.
Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said union representatives should not get public money for their union work.
He said: “There is no reason why taxpayers should subsidise the trade unions at all, and this multi-million pound bill must be stopped. The unions are explicitly political organisations, and they should make do with what money they can raise from their members.
“Many taxpayers will be horrified to learn that their money is being used to fund the unions and their big-state, high tax message. It is bad enough that they are issuing threats of strike action, but having to pay for the people organising the strikes adds insult to injury.”