The Financial Status and Performance of British Trade Unions, 1950–1988

ABSTRACT The paper analyses the financial status of British trade unions from 1950 to 1988. It documents the long‐term financial decline in union real net worth, despite the maintenance of solvency, which has followed from the shortfall of subscription income over total expenditure. Unions were financially quite stable until the mid‐1960s, when financial decline became serious; despite membership growth from 1967 to 1979, wealth declined and solvency was low. Paradoxically, the period of membership decline since 1980 has seen a partial recovery in financial performance. The factors underlying decline and recovery are analysed and the prospects for the future examined.