National Union of Professional Foster Carers v The Certification Officer [2021]
Decision Number: EWCA Civ 548 Legal Body: Court of Appeal (England and Wales)
Published on: 21/04/2021
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Jason Elliott BL Barrister & Associate Head of School of Law, Ulster University
Jason Elliott BL Barrister & Associate Head of School of Law, Ulster University
Jason elliott new
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Jason Elliott was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 2013 and is the Associate Head of School of Law at Ulster University.  As a practising barrister, he has developed a largely civil practice representing individuals, companies and public bodies in litigation. This covers a wide range of areas including personal injuries, wills and employment law. In terms of employment law, he has represented both applicants and respondents in the Industrial Tribunal.   At Ulster University, Jason lectures extensively on the civil areas of practise such as Equity and Trusts and delivers employment law lectures for both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Background

This appeal arose from the respondent’s refusal to register the appellant Trade Union as an organisation on the list of Trade Unions. The reason for the refusal was that the members of the Trade Union, namely foster carers, were not wholly or mainly workers within the meaning of Section 1 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.   The EAT had agreed with the decision of the respondent citing that the relationship between foster carers and local councils were regulated by a ‘foster care agreement’ which was non-contractual and was therefore contrary to any definition of being a worker.   The Union appealed this decision stating that foster carers were in fact workers an also argued

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 21/04/2021