Publication scheme
The Certification Officer’s publication scheme makes information available to the public about the work of the Certification Officer.
Publication Scheme
This Publication Scheme has been drawn up under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Action 2000 using the model Publication Scheme issued by the Information Commissioners Office. The scheme commits the Certification Officer to make information available to the public where the information is held by the Certification Office.
Who we are and what we do
About the Certification Officer website.
Certification Officer’s Annual Report.
Legislation relevant to the Certification Officer’s functions - Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
Location and Contacts
The Certification Officer is based in London and has an office in Scotland.
Certification Officer
8th Floor
Windsor House
50 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0TL
Assistant Certification Officer for Scotland
Melrose House
69a George Street
Edinburgh
EH2 2JG
What we spend and how we spend it
Funding provision to run the Certification Officer’s office is provided by Acas and included in their accounts which are laid before Parliament. Certain financial information related to the Certification Officer’s salary, cost of running the office is also contained in the Certification Officer’s Annual Report.
A copy of the accounts is available from the Certification Officer by written request*.
As part of the transparency agenda, government has made commitments to publish public expenditure.
Certification Officer expenditure is published on the Acas website under ‘Transparency Data’.
What our priorities are and how we are doing
Certification Officer’s Annual Report*.
Certification Officer’s Operational plan*.
How we make decisions
The decision making process used by the Certification Officer is set out in guidance produced by the Certification Office and available on the Certification Officer’s website.
Certain procedures for decision making are set out in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.
Our policies and procedures
The Certification Officer is a public authority and her staff are Civil Servants and Acas staff thus they are bound by Civil Service wide policies and procedures, Acas policies and procedures and statutory requirements of public authorities, e.g. Data Protection Act 2018, UK GDPR etc.
The Certification Officer is an independent person, her resources are provided by Acas as such, there is in place a Memorandum of Understanding between the Certification Officer and Acas (available by written request). Certification Officer retention policy (available by written request).
Lists and registers
Certification Office staff maintain a list of gifts and hospitality received and are subject to Acas’ rules on gifts and hospitality (available by written request)*.
The Service we offer
Copies of Annual Returns and the Rules of all current trade union’s and employers’ associations are available for public inspection at the Certification Office and where appropriate, the Office of the Assistant Certification Officer in Scotland from 1974.
Copies of Annual Returns and the Rules of all former trade union’s and employers’ associations (those that have dissolved or ceased to be a trade union/employers association) are available for public inspection at the National Archives.
Annual Returns received between 1 January 2004 and 31 May 2014 are available on The National Archives website, listed under Annual Returns.
Annual returns, Rules and other documents submitted for the purposes of the Trade Union Act 1871, Trade Union (Amalgamation) Act 1964, Industrial Relations Act 1971 and the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1974 for Trade Unions and Employers’ Associations that dissolved or ceased to be a trade union/employers’ association prior to 1974 are available for inspection at the National Archives under the Registrar of Friendly Society (precursor to the Certification Office).
Advice and guidance published by the Certification Officer.
Information not available for publication
The Certification Office does not publish information whose disclosure is prevented by law, or exempt under the Freedom of Information Act, or otherwise properly considered to be protected from disclosure.
Information in draft form.
Information that is no longer readily available as it is contained in files that have been placed in archive storage or is difficult to access for similar reasons.
Written requests
A request should be made in writing and sent to:
$A FOI Requests Certification Officer 8th Floor Windsor House 80 Victoria Street London SW1H 0TL
Alternatively, requests may be emailed to: info@certoffice.org.
Information held by the Certification Officer that is not published under this scheme can be requested in writing. Any such requests will be considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.
Method by which information will be made available
Information will be provided in the language in which it is held or in such other language that is legally required. Where the Certification Officer is legally required to translate any information, it will do so.
In circumstances where information is only available by viewing in person, the Certification Office will contact the requester to arrange an appointment to view the information within a reasonable timescale, e.g. inspection of union rule books and other public documents.
Obligations under equality legislation and any other legislation to provide information in other forms and formats will be adhered to when providing information in accordance with this scheme.
Charging
There are some statutory charges for accessing information.
The information in this guidance marked with an (*) will be provided free of charge.
Where needed, a charge will also be made in respect of retrieval costs for items that the Certification Office keeps in external storage and to recover postage costs.
If a charge is to be made, confirmation of the payment due will be given before the information is provided. Payment may be requested prior to provision of the information.
Copyright
If you want to re-use or reproduce our publication for commercial use, or to circulate them for education purposes, you will in most cases need to apply for a copyright licence. The Annual Report of the Certification Officer is subject to Crown Copyright.
Guidance on re-using public sector information, licensing and copyright is available on the National Archives website under Re-using public sector information.