NASUWT – Written evidence (TUP0016)

The NASUWT’s submission sets out the Union’s views on the key issues identified by the Select Committee in the terms of reference for the Inquiry.

The NASUWT is the largest union representing teachers and headteachers in the UK.

Introduction

1. The NASUWT has had a political fund since 1989.
2. The NASUWT’s evidence is given in the context that it is not a union that is affiliated to the Labour Party and that it holds a political fund, established for the purposes of engagement in activity in pursuit of “political objects” as defined under the relevant legislation, on behalf of NASUWT members.
3. The NASUWT political fund is bound by the provisions of the legislation and operates fully in accordance with the guidance published by the Government.
4. The NASUWT political fund is endorsed by the Union’s membership and subject to a ballot of members every ten years, in accordance with the requirements of the legislation.
5. The conduct of the political fund ballot is regulated by the requirements imposed on the conduct of such ballots by the Electoral Reform Society. There is no evidence that members of the Union are dissatisfied with these arrangements.
6. In addition, individual members may at any time opt out of the political fund, and the arrangements for doing so are explained to all new members who join the Union and are publicised throughout the year through the Union’s communications to members and on the Union’s website. The Union operates concessionary rates for members who elect to opt-out of the political fund. These rates are publicly available.
7. The NASUWT political fund is subject to independent scrutiny in accordance with the legislation and is audited annually by independent chartered accountants and auditors appointed each year by the Union’s National Conference in accordance with legislative provisions. The Union’s accounts are also published annually, together with details of the political fund account, and are open to scrutiny by NASUWT members and the public.

Affiliation to a political party

8. The NASUWT regrets that much of the Government’s discourse around the use of political funds has misrepresented the position of the majority of unions, including the NASUWT, by suggesting that the political funds are used to fund political parties, and in particular the Labour Party.
9. In actuality, it is the case that of the 163 trade unions that are affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), only 15 are affiliated to the Labour Party and are, therefore, required to have a political fund for this purpose.
10.               The NASUWT believes that whether trade unions have political funds or not, and whether they are affiliated to the Labour Party or not, is entirely a matter for those unions and their members. Trade Unions are democratically organised bodies, whose policy direction is entirely determined by the will of their members. The NASUWT does not provide financial support to any political party.
11.               The Trade Union Bill seeks to encroach upon the democratic mandate of trade unions and upon what union funds are spent on. It is clear that other membership organisations are not subject to the same level of controls upon how their membership subscriptions are spent and that the Trade Union Bill will only place additional, unnecessary administrative and financial burdens upon trade unions.
12.               The NASUWT’s rules governing the use of the political fund are set out in the NASUWT Rules of Association. Members of the Union are, therefore, provided with clear information about the political fund and its use, including details of how to opt-out, should they desire to do so. Very few NASUWT members elect to opt-out of paying the political fund. In the last calendar year, for example, the total percentage choosing to opt-out was 2%.
13.               However, the fact that a small number choose to do so, is evidence of the fact that members have the opportunity to make this choice and are not coerced into doing so. In addition, the opt-out rates are clearly displayed in relation to subscription rates in order to be clear and transparent.
14.               The NASUWT does not receive complaints about this process. It is not clear, therefore, why the Government has decided that there is a problem that needs to be fixed, particularly given that the Government has acknowledged, through its own Impact Assessment, that the process it is proposing to introduce will provide additional financial burdens upon trade unions.

Use of the political fund

15.               The NASUWT uses its fund primarily for promoting its work and communicating on behalf of its members through attendance at political party conferences. In the last calendar year, the NASUWT, as a union which organises across the UK, attended the conferences of the following political parties:

• The Conservative Party;
• The Labour Party;
• The Liberal Democrats;
• The Scottish National Party;
• Plaid Cymru;
• The Ulster Unionist Party;
• The Democratic Unionist Party;
• The Alliance Party;
• Sinn Fein; and
• The Social and Democratic Labour Party (SDLP).

16.               The fund covers attendance, for example the cost of a stand, and any activities such as fringe meetings at the conferences. At all of the political party conferences it attended, the NASUWT engaged directly with the politicians and delegates on policy matters affecting teachers. This annual engagement is reported to all members in the Union’s in-house magazine, the Union’s Annual Report, which is also circulated to members and subject to approval by the Union’s National Conference, and on the Union’s website.
17.               Details of the spend of the political fund are contained within the Union’s annual accounts, which are by law required to be audited and sent to the Certification Officer. The details are sent to all members and scrutinised and adopted by the Union’s Annual Conference. It is clear, therefore, that the process is entirely open and transparent for all members.

Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014

18.               Since 2014, the NASUWT has been required to operate in accordance with further restrictions placed upon trade unions as a result of the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014, which is designed to limit expenditure by prescribed organisations during the “regulated period” prior to an election.
19.               Given the limitations, bureaucracy and costs that currently apply as a result of this legislation, the proposal by the Government to place further restrictions upon trade union spending on political activities is unnecessary, disproportionate and can only be considered to be ideologically driven.

Opt-in arrangements

20.               The Trade Union Bill proposes to require trade unions to operate their political funds on the basis of an opt-in arrangement. The NASUWT is concerned that the Government has failed to offer any rationale for this change which the Union believes is a device to create a further barrier to trade union membership and participation. It is perverse for a Government that claims to be determined to stamp out bureaucracy, to seek to introduce a new level of bureaucracy to any area of the work of trade unions, organisations which are already highly regulated, as described above.
21.               The NASUWT political fund operates on a fully transparent basis and the Union rejects emphatically the implication that it, or indeed other unions, are receiving money from members under false pretences or that it is misrepresenting the political work of the Union to members and potential members. The wide range of information provided by the Union and the democratic basis on which the Union operates confirms that this is not the case.
22.               The NASUWT believes that the Government’s proposals for changing the requirements for political fund opt-out are intended to reduce the number of union members who elect to pay into trade union political funds to restrict union activity. The planned retrospective application of this measure provides further indication that this is the Government’s intention. The Union regrets that this appears to be entirely consistent with the deeply worrying pattern which is emerging of a Government seeking to stifle opposition, silence critics and deny working people a voice.

10 February 2016