In line with the government's requirement that local authorities publish details of the trade union facility time, we publish this dataset on a yearly basis and have done so since 2015.

Local authorities must publish the following information on trade union facility time:

• total number (absolute number and full time equivalent) of staff who are union representatives
• total number (absolute number and full time equivalent) of union representatives who devote at least 50% of their time to union duties
• names of all trade unions represented in the local authority
• a basic estimate of spending on unions (calculated as the number of full time equivalent days spent on union duties by authority staff that spent the majority of their time on union duties, multiplied by the average salary) 
• a basic estimate of spending on unions as a percentage of the total pay bill (calculated as the number of full time equivalent days spent on union duties by authority staff that spent the majority of their time on union duties, multiplied by the average salary, divided by the total pay bill)