Taxpayers are forking out almost ‘£200million a year’ to pay for trade unions officials
Transport for London spent £5million, with 692 individuals being paid to do the work
CASH-STRAPPED town halls are spending tens of millions a year on trade unions activists, it can be revealed.
The union officials, who carry out duties on behalf of members, cost local government £26 million in “facility time” last year.
Across councils, the highest level of cash was found at Birmingham City Council who spent £1.1 million a year - the equivalent of 35 full-time staff. Figures to be published tomorrow (show there are 16,664 full-time equivalent trade unions in post across 1,200 public bodies nationwide.
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust spent £465,000 a year on union activity while the NHS Blood and Transplant Service had a £318,000 bill. HM Revenue and Customs were the biggest spender in the Civil Service with a £2.2 million.
The Tories have reduced the level of facility time in the Civil Service from 0.26 of the total bill in 2012 to just 0.05 per cent in 2018 - which is seen as the benchmark.
It’s understood the total bill for the facility time scheme is around £200 million a year. But Transport for London spend £5 million on union staff with a huge 692 individual workers being paid to do union duties.
All public authorities were required to report by the end of July but some have failed to meet the deadline. Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden MP, said: “For too long in the public sector, trade unions have received taxpayer handouts that are poorly controlled and bad value for money.
“Proper controls will save taxpayers’ money and allow more resources to be spent on frontline services across the police, hospitals and councils. We have already delivered these reforms in the Civil Service, whilst ensuring fair play in the workplace.
"By opening up the books, we are now demonstrating the scope for the wider public sector to follow this example.
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“It’s no surprise that Labour councils are throwing taxpayers’ money at the trade unions, in return for the donations the Labour Party gets from the unions. Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party would abolish this transparency, rip up trade union laws and hand union barons more taxpayer cash.
"Labour would give the green light to trade union militancy which would disrupt working people’s lives and damage our economy.”
James Price, Campaign Manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Many of these public bodies are also constantly complaining about budget cuts, and earning about the effect they have on frontline services, whilst at the same time allowing huge amounts of cash to be funnelled away from exactly those services.”