Trade Union Facility time report 2023/2024
In line with the Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017 – Kent Police has followed the reporting principles set out in the UK Government’s methodology, which came into force in April 2017, to collate and publish data on the amount and cost of facility time within Kent Police.
Table 1 - Relevant Union Officials
What was the total number of your employees who were relevant union officials during the relevant period?
| Number of employees who were relevant union officials during the relevant period | Full-time equivalent employee number |
|---|---|
| 24 | 21.54 |
Table 2 - Percentage of time spent on facility time
How many of your employees who were relevant union officials employed during the relevant period spent a) 0%, b) 1 - 50%, c) 51 -99%, d) 100% of their working hours on facility time?
| Percentage of time | Number of employees |
|---|---|
| 0% | 14 |
| 1 to 50% | 6 |
| 51 to 99% | 0 |
| 100% | 4 |
Table 3 - Percentage of pay bill spent on facility time
Provide the figures requested in the first column of the table below to determine the percentage of your total pay bill spent on paying employees who were relevant union officials for facility time during the relevant period.
| Reason | Figures |
|---|---|
| Provide the total cost of facility time | £169,408.77 |
| Provide the total pay bill | £359,277,601.29 |
| Provide the percentage of the total pay bill spent on facility time, calculated as (total cost of facility time / total pay bill) x 100 | 0.05 |
Table 4 - Paid Trade Union activities
As a percentage of total paid facility time hours, how many hours were spent by employees who were relevant union officials during the relevant period on paid trade union activities?
| Reason | Figures |
|---|---|
| Time spent on paid trade union duties and activities as a percentage of total paid facility time hours calculated as: | 3.66% |
| (total hours spent on paid trade union duties and activities by relevant union officials during the relevant period / total paid facility time hours) x 100 | 6,192 |
| Time spent on paid trade union duties as a percentage of total paid facility time hours calculated as: | 3.57% |
| (total hours spent on paid trade union duties by relevant union officials during the relevant period / total paid facility time hours) x 100 | 6,050 |
| Time spent on paid trade union activities as a percentage of total paid facility time hours calculated as: | 0.08% |
| (total hours spent on paid trade union activities by relevant union officials during the relevant period / total paid facility time hours) x 100 | 142 |
The Unison Branch for Kent Police report an increase in the number of stewards in the past twelve months (from 23 to 24 employees) although, the full-time equivalent employee figure increased from 21.06 to 21.54 FTE. This is reflected in table 1 – Relevant Union Officials.
Kent Police reports that it spends 0.05% of its total pay bill on Trade Union Facility time which replicates last year’s data.
Kent Police reports that its Union officials spend 3.65% of time on paid trade union duties and activities as a percentage of total paid facility time, compared to 3.71% last year. Of the total facility time, 97.70% is spent on paid Trade Union duties which has increased from 70.09% in 2022/23, since last year’s reporting period it has been clarified that certain activities will report under union duties where they were previously recorded as union activities which explains the difference in percentages. In the past twelve months there has been a continued increase in Trade Union duties, as a result of organisational change.