Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978

29 Time off for public duties.E+W+S

(1)An employer shall permit an employee of his who is—

(a)a justice of the peace;

(b)a member of a local authority;

[F1(bb)a member of the Broads Authority;]

[F2(bc)a member of a police authority appointed under Schedule 1B to the Police Act 1964 F3;]

(c)a member of any statutory tribunal;

[F4(cc)a member of, in England and Wales, a board of visitors appointed under section 6(2) of the M1Prison Act 1952 or, in Scotland, a visiting committee appointed under section 19(3) of the Prisons (Scotland) Act M21989 or constituted by virtue of rules made under section 39, as read with section 8(1), of that Act;]

(d)a member of [F5a National Health Service Trust or], in England and Wales, a [F6Health Authority or Special Health Authority] or, in Scotland, a Health Board;

(e)a member of, in England and Wales, the managing or governing body of an educational establishment maintained by a local education authority, or, in Scotland, a school F7. . . council or the governing body of a [F8designated institution or a central institution]; F9

[F10(ee)a member of the governing body of a grant-maintained school;]

[F11(ef)a member of the governing body of a [F12further education corporation or] higher education corporation; or]

[F13(ef)a member of a school board or of the board of management of a self-governing school;]

[F14(eg)a member of the board of management of a college of further education; or]

(f)a member of, in England and Wales, [F15the National Rivers Authority or, in Scotland, a] river purification board,

to take time off, subject to and in accordance with subsection (4), during the employee’s working hours for the purposes of performing any of the duties of his office or, as the case may be, his duties as such a member.

(2)In subsection (1)—

(a)“local authority" in relation to England and Wales includes the Common Council of the City of London but otherwise has the same meaning as in the M3Local Government Act 1972, and in relation to Scotland has the same meaning as in the M4Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973;

(b)[F16 “Health Authority” means a Health Authority established under section 8 of the M5National Health Service Act 1977 and “Special Health Authority” means a Special Health Authority established under section 11 of that Act, and]“Health Board” has the same meaning as in [F17the M6National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978];

(c)“local education authority” means the authority designated by section 192(1) of the M7Local Government Act 1972, [F18“school council” means a body appointed under section 125(1) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, “board of management”, where it appears in paragraph (ef) as inserted by the Self-Governing Schools etc. (Scotland) Act 1989, “central institution” and “self-governing school” have the same meanings as in section 135(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, “school board” has the same meaning as in section 1(1) of the School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988, “board of management”, where it appears and “college of further education” have the same meanings as in section 36(1) of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 and “designated institution” has the same meaning as in Part II of that Act of 1992]; and

(d)“river purification board” means a board established under section 135 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

(3)For the purposes of subsection (1) the duties of a member of a body referred to in paragraphs (b) to (f) of that subsection are:—

(a)attendance at a meeting of the body or any of its committees or sub-committees;

(b)the doing of any other thing approved by the body, or anything of a class so approved, for the purpose of the discharge of the functions of the body or of any of its committees or sub-committees.

(4)The amount of time off which an employee is to be permitted to take under this section and the occasions on which and any conditions subject to which time off may be so taken are those that are reasonable in all the circumstances having regard, in particular, to the following:—

(a)how much time off is required for the performance of the duties of the office or as a member of the body in question, and how much time off is required for the performance of the particular duty;

(b)how much time off the employee has already been permitted under this section or [F19sections 168 and 170 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (time off for trade union duties and activities)];

(c)the circumstances of the employer’s business and the effect of the employee’s absence on the running of that business.

(5)The Secretary of State may by order—

(a)modify the provisions of subsection (1) by adding any office or body to, or removing any office or body from, that subsection or by altering the description of any office or body in that subsection; and

(b)modify the provisions of subsection (3).

(6)An employee may present a complaint to an industrial tribunal that his employer has failed to permit him to take time off as required by this section.

Textual Amendments

F2S. 29(1)(bc) inserted (1.4.1995) by S.I. 1995/694, art. 2

F6Words in s. 29(1)(d) substituted (28.6.1995 for certain purposes and otherwise 1.4.1996) by 1995 c. 17, ss. 2(1)(3), 8(1), Sch. 1 Pt. III para. 103(2)(a)

F16Words in s. 29(2)(b) substituted (28.6.1995 for certain purposes and otherwise 1.4.1996) by 1995 c. 17, ss. 2(1)(3), 8(1), Sch. 1 Pt. III para. 103(2)(b)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1S. 29(1) applied (E.W.) (1.4.1994) by S.I. 1994/653, reg. 42(1), Sch. Pt. I

S. 29(1) applied (E.W.) (9.5.1994) by S.I. 1994/1084, reg. 8(1), Sch. 2 Pt. I

Marginal Citations