Unite the Union v Mills

Under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, accounting records are those objectively necessary to give a true and fair view of a trade union’s affairs and to explain its transactions. Whether particular records are necessary is a question of fact and degree.

Members may inspect the accounting records required by sections 28 to 30, but not generally the underlying source documents. Auditors, the Certification Officer and inspectors have wider rights of access. Individual records of substantial payments may nevertheless be required where aggregate entries do not adequately explain the transactions. Disclosure of recipients’ names was permissible on the facts. Bank statements were not required where existing accounting records sufficiently explained the relevant entries.

Mrs Mills, a member of Unite, complained to the Certification Officer that the union had failed to give her access to accounting records for the BASSA branch. The complaint concerned aggregate entries for sundries and stand-down payments made to branch officials.

The Certification Officer ordered access to records showing the individual stand-down transactions, including dates, recipients and brief descriptions, but refused access to bank statements relating to sundries. He also refused to redact recipients’ names. Unite appealed, and Mrs Mills cross-appealed. The central issues were the meaning of accounting records, the scope of a member’s inspection right, and the application of Article 8 of the Convention.

1. Appeal dismissed. The statutory scheme distinguishes between accounting records required under sections 28 and 29, which members may inspect under section 30, and the wider class of accounting and other relevant documents which may be required by the Certification Officer, auditors or inspectors.

2. Accounting records are identified by an objective test. They are records necessary to give a true and fair view of the union’s state of affairs, assets and liabilities, and to explain its transactions. The question is one of fact and degree. The purpose for which a document was created or retained is not determinative.

3. Primary documents such as receipts, invoices and bank statements are ordinarily documents underlying the accounting records. They may nevertheless be accounting records in particular circumstances. A collection of source documents does not necessarily satisfy the statutory obligation.

4. The Certification Officer was entitled to conclude that the individual claims and payments comprising substantial aggregate stand-down entries were necessary to explain the union’s transactions. The order requiring access to records showing the date, recipient and expenditure category or reason for each payment was therefore lawful.

5. The Certification Officer was also entitled to refuse redaction of recipients’ names. He permissibly found that Article 8 was not engaged because the recipients had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the payments. Alternatively, disclosure was necessary and proportionate in the circumstances.

6. Cross-appeal dismissed. Bank statements underlying the sundries entries were not required where the quarterly and annual accounting records already satisfied sections 28(1)(a) and 28(2). The order for inspection of the individual stand-down records remained in force, with compliance extended to eight weeks from sealing the EAT’s order.

• Certification Officer: ordered Unite to provide access to individual records comprising aggregate stand-down payments, refused access to bank statements, and refused redaction of recipients’ names.
• Employment Appeal Tribunal: dismissed Unite’s appeal and Mrs Mills’s cross-appeal. The Certification Officer’s order remained in force, subject to an extended compliance period.