Nations and Regions

The union organises across the UK and Ireland, as well as having branches in Paris, Brussels and the Netherlands.

The geographic region in which a member lives defines the votes they can cast and their ability to run for election for different union bodies.

Some bodies in the union have geographic seats, representing nations and/or regions, others have sectoral or employer-based seats and some have a mix of both.

Individual bodies have defined their seats in an effort to best represent their membership.

The national executive council (NEC) has a mix of sectoral, national and regional seats. The regional seats are divided, based on the number of members, between:

  • East Anglia
  • London
  • Midlands
  • North-west England
  • South-east England
  • South-west England
  • Yorkshire and North-east England (including the Humber).

The national seats are:

  • Northern Ireland
  • Republic of Ireland
  • Scotland
  • Wales.

There is also a seat for members in Continental Europe.

The Scottish and Welsh executive councils have seats reserved for geographic branches within those countries. The Irish executive, which covers the whole island of Ireland, has only one geographic seat – the reserved seat for Northern Ireland.

Industrial councils with geographic seats, based on the NEC seats, cover freelance; new media; newspapers and agencies; and public relations and communications.