UK Certification Officer annual report shows lower reported union membership, rise in member complaints

Traders Union
All News
Geopolitics & Trade
UK Certification Officer union report

Highlights

Reported UK trade union membership dropped 19.4% to 5.4 million in 2024-2025, mainly due to Unite the Union not submitting figures.
Trade union total assets declined 1.3% to £2.27 billion, while total funds increased 4.76% to £1.98 billion for 2024-2025.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 removed annual levy and reporting requirements on industrial action and political spending, restoring pre-2016 regulatory standards.

Annual figures and regulatory changes

As reported by GOV.UK, the Annual Report of the Certification Officer, Stephen Hardy, was laid before Parliament on 2 July 2026 and covers the office's work in 2025/26, including statistical information on trade unions and employers' associations for 2024-2025.

The Certification Officer maintains the lists of trade unions and employers' associations. Three organisations were added to the trade union list, bringing the total to 131, while the number of employers' associations remained unchanged at 36.

Reported trade union membership fell 19.4% to 5.4 million in 2024-2025 from 6.7 million in 2023-2024. The report says this mainly reflects the fact that Unite the Union submitted membership figures for 2023-2024, while its annual return of membership and financial information was not provided for 2024-2025.

Reported total assets of trade unions declined 1.3% to £2.27 billion from £2.30 billion. Total funds reported by trade unions rose 4.76% to £1.98 billion from £1.89 billion in the previous year.

The Employment Rights Act 2025 came into effect during the reporting year and restores the Certification Officer's powers to those in place before the 2016 law. The changes remove requirements for unions to provide information on industrial action and more detailed political spending in annual returns, end additional powers to investigate some statutory breaches without a member complaint, and remove the annual levy on listed trade unions and employers' associations to cover regulatory costs.

For trade unions with political funds, the 2025 law also restores the earlier position under which new members can be treated as having opted in to contributing unless they later submit an opt-out notice.

Implications for unions and employer bodies

Out of 21 trade unions with political funds, 19 submitted annual returns with financial information. The total amount held in those funds was £29.4 million, down 17.88% from the previous year, when 20 trade unions provided information.

The Certification Officer dealt with 46 complaints from union members against their trade unions, compared with 13 in the previous year. Two complaints were withdrawn and four were struck out, while 40 proceeded to a hearing; seven were upheld, including two enforcement orders, and 33 were dismissed.

The regulator also made one financial penalty order in a case involving a member's complaint that his trade union had not provided access to the union's accounting records. Stephen Hardy has held the post since 1 October 2025 after succeeding Sarah Bedwell, with Michael Kidd serving as interim Certification Officer between 1 June 2025 and 30 September 2025.

Our earlier report on the Financial Conduct Authority’s proposals to improve fee transparency in UK wealth management explained how regulators want clearer, plain-English disclosures of investment costs across platforms, advisers and wealth managers. We noted that the package would also target practices such as “double dipping” on client cash and reflected growing scrutiny under Consumer Duty, as opaque charging structures can prevent clients from comparing providers and assessing fair value.

This material may contain third-party opinions, none of the data and information on this webpage constitutes investment advice according to our Disclaimer. While we adhere to strict Editorial Integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners.