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New call for Scutineers of Trade Union ballots

24 September 2009

The Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) today launched a public competition to identify organisations qualified to undertake and scrutinise statutory ballots and elections under trade union law.

This competition will be carried out jointly with the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in Great Britain.

A spokesperson for DEL said: “The current legislation specifying those eligible to carry out this work was last amended in 2003 and 2004, so it is considered timely to run a public competition to review and update the organisations listed.

“It is important that trade unions and employers have appropriately qualified organisations with the necessary skills and experience to carry out this work.”

In order to qualify as an independent scrutineer, organisations must satisfy the DEL and BIS that they are:

  • Independent and impartial - Applicants must show that they are not controlled by individual unions or potentially subject to undue commercial pressures from unions. They must adhere to the highest standards of probity and professional objectivity.
  • Competent - Balloting requires attention to detail to ensure efficiency and proper conduct. Successful applicants will need to show that they fully understand the pitfalls to be avoided.
  • Adequately resourced - Ballots and elections have to be held to tight timetables. Applicants will need to show that they have the staffing and other necessary resources to supervise and undertake balloting within the necessary time scale.
  • Adequately Experienced - Applicants will need to show that they have undertaken ballots efficiently and professionally. Alternatively, newly established organisations, or those companies new to balloting, will need to show that they employ staff with such experience.

Applications and enquiries should be made to:

Glenn Harrison

Employment Relations Directorate

1 Victoria Street

London SW1H 0ET

020 7215 2760

Glenn.harrison@bis.gsi.gov.uk

Applications should be made in writing to BIS by 23 October 2009.

  Prospective applicants can download further information from the DEL website: http://www.delni.gov.uk/tradeunionscrutineers

Notes to editors:

1.Unions are required by law to use the services of an independent scrutineer when carrying out statutory ballots in four areas:

  • industrial action ballots (involving more than 50 people);
  • ballots to establish and periodically review a union’s Political Fund;
  • ballots concerning the amalgamation of unions; and
  • elections to certain trade union positions.

2.The Industrial Court (in Northern Ireland) and the Central Arbitration Committee (in Great Britain) are required by statute to use the services of qualified independent persons when carrying out trade union recognition and derecognition ballots.

3.Under the current law, only solicitors, accountants qualified to be company auditors and certain named organisations are defined as qualified to undertake these roles.   Most ballots and elections in trade union law are in practice handled by the named organisations and the public competition aims to identify which named organisations should undertake this role in future.  

4.Scrutineers have certain statutory functions to perform in connection with these ballots.  These centre on the supervision of the ballot or election.  Scrutineers must also produce a report after the ballot or election, which among other things gives the result of the vote and states whether the scrutineer is satisfied that there are no reasonable grounds for believing that the ballot was conducted in contravention of the law.  It is also the usual practice for the scrutineer to act as the independent person who actually undertakes the ballot – that is, storing, distributing and counting ballot papers, and supervising the voting in a workplace ballot.

5.All media queries should be directed to the Department for Employment and Learning Press Office on 028 9025 7872.  Out of office hours please contact the duty press officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.