IEA Editorial and Research Fellow Len Shackleton has been quoted in The Daily Telegraph responding to a recent Taxpayers’ Alliance investigation which revealed that almost £100m of taxpayers’ money was spent last year on paying public sector staff to work for trade unions.

Len discussed the prospect of a crackdown on ‘facility time’, a practice whereby public bodies give trade union representatives paid time during work hours.

He said:

“It is likely that Labour will increase facility time. In their ‘Plan to Make Work Pay’, attached to the manifesto, they say they will ‘introduce statutory rights for trade union equality reps’.

“As this appears under the heading ‘Facilities time’, the implication is that these reps will be given time off work for these duties.”

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