The new rules apply to all Whitehall civil servants and workers for public bodies, including prison officers and immigration workers, according to major media reports. Union reps will be required to allot half of their time to contractual work, and may spend the remainder on trade union work. The Employment Rights Bill, which gained Royal Assent last year, will give additional powers to public sector union reps.
Around £90 million of taxpayers' cash was spent last year to cover the cost of staff partaking in trade union work. Of more than 20,000 union representatives in public bodies, 14,976 (74%) took paid leave to work on union activities. The move to remove the hard cap on union activities is described as an 'insult to taxpayers' by the Conservatives, according to Alex Burghart, shadow cabinet office minister.
The PCS union views the new rules on union time as delivering 'radical improvements', according to Martin Cavanagh, national president of the PCS. The Conservative Party has pledged to scrap the legal requirement for employers to offer paid time off for union representatives, according to major media reports. The Tories claim scrapping paid time off for union reps will save £100 million a year, totalling £500 million across the next parliament.
A Conservative government would introduce a bill to prevent all public services, including councils, from offering four-day weeks for five days' pay. Liberal Democrat-run South Cambridgeshire District Council voted to permanently adopt a four-day week in July 2025. Council staff work about 85% of their contracted hours with no reduction in pay.
Since introducing the four-day week, staff turnover fell by 41% and job applications increased by 123%. The policy saved £399,000 in agency worker fees. An independent analysis found the authority improved or saw no significant performance change in 21 out of 24 areas.
The Conservatives say they would reform the household benefit cap, delivering at least £1 billion of savings annually. Under Tory proposals, households would only be exempt from the cap if all adults who can work do so at least 16 hours a week. Receiving benefits such as PIP would no longer be an automatic exemption from the household benefit cap.
In Scotland, the Scottish Conservatives have pledged to abolish parking charges for short-term stays of up to two hours. They have also launched a campaign against Edinburgh's proposed congestion charge. The exact cost of the new union time deal to taxpayers remains unclear.
It is also uncertain whether the Conservative pledge to scrap paid time off for union reps will become law if they win the next election. The specific timeline for the Scottish Conservatives' free parking policy has not been announced.