Union ‘facility time' costs public sector £98m a year

WORKERS in taxpayer-funded jobs spent time worth almost £100million on trade union activities in the last financial year, analysis reveals.

- By David Williamson

The Taxpayers' Alliance found "facility time" cost £98.2million to public sector organisations.

The campaign group added it is appalled that Labour is ending mandatory reporting on staff taking time off for union work.

The Employment Rights Bill will also remove ministers' power to impose a cap on these activities.

The alliance says the number of public sector organisations reporting facility time has almost halved.

It found 21,639 employees acted as union representatives. Nearly 1,000 spent all their working hours on facility time – and 438 spent more than half.

The TPA says it cost the NHS £17.1million in 2023-24. Among local authorities, the cost across 231 councils came to £33.3million.