Employment Act 1980

1 Payments in respect of secret ballots

(1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make a scheme (below called " the scheme ") providing for payments by the Certification Officer towards expenditure incurred by independent trade unions in respect of such ballots to which this section applies as may be prescribed by the scheme.

(2) This section applies to a ballot if the purpose of the question to be voted upon (or if there is more than one such question, the purpose of any of them) falls within the purposes mentioned in subsection (3) below.

(3) The purposes referred to in subsection (2) above are —

(a) obtaining a decision or ascertaining the views of members of a trade union as to the calling or ending of a strike or other industrial action ;

(b) carrying out an election provided for by the rules of a trade union;

(c) electing a worker who is a member of a trade union to be a representative of other members also employed by his employer;

(d) amending the rules of a trade union ;

(e) obtaining a decision in accordance with the [1964 c. 24.] Trade Union (Amalgamations, etc.) Act 1964 on a resolution to approve an instrument of amalgamation or transfer;

and such other purposes as the Secretary of State may by order specify.

(4) The scheme may include provision for payments to be made towards expenditure incurred by an independent trade union in respect of arrangements to hold a ballot which is not proceeded with but which, if it had been held, would have been a ballot to which this section applies.

(5) The circumstances in which and the conditions subject to which payments may be made under the scheme, and the amounts of the payments, shall be such as may be prescribed by or determined in accordance with the scheme; and the scheme shall include provision for restricting the cases in which payments are made to cases in which the ballot is so conducted as to secure, so far as reasonably practicable, that those voting may do so in secret.

(6) The Secretary of State shall out of money provided by Parliament pay to the Certification Officer such sums as he may require for making payments under the scheme.

(7) Any power to make regulations or orders under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument; and—

(a) a statutory instrument containing regulations under this section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament;

(b) no order shall be made under this section unless a draft of it has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.

(8) Expressions used in this section and in the 1974 Act have the same meanings in this section as in that Act.