Sean Moran

25 October 2018

DearMr Moran,

I am writing in response to your request for an internal review in to the handling of your Freedom of Information request in relation to payments made to Unions. Please accept our apologies for the delay in response.

Your request of the 17 July 2014, and our response of the 13 August 2014 is detailed below:

1. In each of the last six years how much has been paid in facility costs by Salford City Council to Unions? Please break the figures down per Union for each year.

The council can confirm no payment is made to the trades unions. Reasonable paid time off for TU duties is allowed in line with the law and ACAS Code of Practice to accredited TU officials. The council does not have a central record regarding time taken off by trade union officials. Details may, in some instances, be informally noted by managers for management purposes but this is not done routinely across the organisation. In addition, some trade union activities undertaken by union representatives are not covered by this agreement. In summary, the council does not formally record the amount of paid staff time spent working on behalf of trade unions. As a result, the council is unable to provide you with the information you are seeking.

The Facility Time agreement allows for the secondment of officers as follows:

Unison = 3 full-time secondees
GMB = 1 full time secondee
UNITE = 16 hours per week

2. In each of the last six years how much has been paid in non-facility costs by Salford City Council to Unions? Please break the figures down per Union for each year.

No other payment is made to the Trade Unions

3. Please provide figures for the number of Union employees paid by Salford City Council via facility payments in each of the last six years. Please break the figures down per Union for each year.

See response to question 1 above

4. Please provide figures for the salary bands of Union employees paid by Salford City Council via facility payments in each of the last six years. Please break the figures down per Union for each year.

There is no specific salary band associated with the secondment. The 4.4 secondees continue to receive the salary of their substantive post.

5. Please provide details of who decides the salary bands of Union employees paid by Salford City Council via facility payments.

See response to question 4 above

Having reviewed our original response, we are satisfied that this response was correct.

Further to our initial response we can add that schools also have an arrangement, administered through the local authority on their behalf, whereby the salaries for teachers taking part in teacher trade union activities is recharged between the schools that employ the teachers and the contributing schools covered by the arrangement. The level of salary so recharged is currently equivalent to approximately 2 full-time teachers. However, again, no payment is made to the trade unions.

The council considers it has fulfilled your Freedom of Information request. Should you continue to disagree with a decision following any appeal you may wish to contact the Office of the Information Commissioner at:-

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

Cheshire,

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45

Fax : 01625 524510

Yours sincerely,
P Egerton
Paula Egerton
Principal Information Governance Officer
Salford City Council

1