Trade Union Funding

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, The National College for School Leadership Limited should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear sirs,

I am writing to obtain information about the total amount of money paid to trade unions by your organisation, the amount of staff time spent on trade union duties and/or activities and the payment of subscriptions.

To outline my query as clearly as possible, I am requesting:

1. A list of trade unions which received payments from your organisation and the total amounts paid to each union for financial years a) 2011-12 and b) 2012-13. If it is not possible to list the amount paid to each union, please provide a total amount paid to all unions. Please do not include membership dues or salary costs. Please only include direct payments.

2. Please state:
a) Which trade unions your organisation provide staff time to work on trade union duties and / or activities (sometimes called ‘Trade Union facility time’) in i) 2011-12 and ii) 2012-13.

b) The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff that were provided for each trade union in i) 2011-12 and ii) 2012-13. For example, if a member of staff spends 2 days per week on union business, this is equal to 0.4 FTE.

3.

a) Does your organisation provide the facility to deduct trade union subscriptions from staff salaries in the payroll process?

b) If so, for each union please state what your organisation charged for this service (whether as a fixed amount per employee or a percentage), and the total amount collected in:

i) 2011-12

ii) 2012-13

Please note that the guidelines issued by ACAS state that: “An employee who is a member of an independent trade union recognised by the employer in respect of that description of employee is to be permitted reasonable time off during working hours to take part in any trade union activity. An employee who is a member of an independent and recognised trade union is also permitted to take reasonable time off during working hours for the purposes of accessing the services of a Union Learning Representative (provided those services are services for which the Union Learning Representative is entitled to time off).”

If the information is not recorded, there is no way of ascertaining whether the time off provided is reasonable. I therefore do not expect the response that the organisation does not hold this information. If a formal record is not kept then I will accept a reasonable estimate.

If the response to any of the questions is ‘nil’ or you are unable to answer any of them, please continue to respond to the other questions

My preferred format to receive this information is electronically, but if that is not possible I will gladly accept letters at the address below.

I would be grateful if you would acknowledge receipt of this request as soon as possible.

Kind regards

Alex Wild

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The message identifier is: 1V4Rkm-0003yI-AO
The date of the message is: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 09:27:28 +0100
The subject of the message is: Freedom of Information request - Trade Union Funding

The address to which the message has not yet been delivered is:

[email address]

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Sent request to The National College for School Leadership Limited again, using a new contact address.

The National College for School Leadership Limited

Dear Alex

Thank you for contacting the National College Customer Helpdesk.

In reference to the below email you have sent.

I have passed this to the correct team within the DFE (Department of Education) who will advise you further. To check the progress of this please contact the team on: 0370 000 2288.

If you need any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact the Helpdesk. We are open from 8am to 9pm on weekdays, excluding bank and public holidays.

Kind Regards
Fiona MacDonald
Customer Helpdesk
National College for Teaching and Leadership
Tel: 08456090009

www.education.gov.uk

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Mail Delivery System,

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.
A message that you sent has not yet been delivered to one or more of its
recipients after more than 48 hours on the queue on titan.ukcod.org.uk.

The message identifier is: 1V4Rkm-0003yI-AO
The date of the message is: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 09:27:28 +0100
The subject of the message is: Freedom of Information request - Trade Union Funding

The address to which the message has not yet been delivered is:

[email address]

No action is required on your part. Delivery attempts will continue for
some time, and this warning may be repeated at intervals if the message
remains undelivered. Eventually the mail delivery software will give up,
and when that happens, the message will be returned to you.

Ganesh Sittampalam left an annotation ()

The continuing delivery warnings which state "The date of the message is: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 09:27:28 +0100" are coming from the original failed attempt at delivering the request.

The second attempt at delivery succeeded.

Ganesh - WhatDoTheyKnow volunteer

Mail Delivery System,

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.
A message that you sent has not yet been delivered to one or more of its
recipients after more than 72 hours on the queue on titan.ukcod.org.uk.

The message identifier is: 1V4Rkm-0003yI-AO
The date of the message is: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 09:27:28 +0100
The subject of the message is: Freedom of Information request - Trade Union Funding

The address to which the message has not yet been delivered is:

[email address]

No action is required on your part. Delivery attempts will continue for
some time, and this warning may be repeated at intervals if the message
remains undelivered. Eventually the mail delivery software will give up,
and when that happens, the message will be returned to you.

Mail Delivery System,

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

[email address]
retry timeout exceeded

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Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

Clicking "show quoted sections" shows the errors all relate to the original message, receipt of which has been confirmed.