Certification Officer
Mr Michael Kidd
Biography
Michael Kidd was appointed as interim Certification Officer on 1 June 2025.
Michael has previously been an elected trade union official, as well as being employed within trade union staff. In 2023, he was appointed as Chief Executive of the Certification Office, and Assistant Certification Officer.
Michael holds an LLM in Employment Law, awarded by the University of Leicester.
Certification Officer
The functions of the Certification Officer are contained in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (as amended). They include:
- maintaining a list of trade unions and employers’ associations
- receiving, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements and keeping available for public inspection annual returns from trade unions and employers’ associations
- determining complaints concerning trade union elections, certain other ballots and certain breaches of trade union rules
- ensuring observance of statutory requirements governing mergers between trade unions and between employers’ associations
- overseeing the political funds and the finances of trade unions and employers’ associations
- certifying the independence of trade unions