National Union of Journalists — A UK Journalism Organisation UK JournoHub Recommends
The NUJ is the trade union for journalists, photographers, and media and communications workers across the United Kingdom and Ireland. The TUC’s union listing records that it was founded in 1907. It bargains with employers, defends members in disciplinaries and tribunals, publishes the Code of Conduct that binds its own members, and issues the UK Press Card as one of the gatekeeper organisations of the UK Press Card Authority.
It is also the organisation whose vocabulary trips up outsiders most often. Chapels are not churches, branches are not workplaces, and a “recognised” chapel means something specific and legally consequential. This page sets out how the union is actually built, what each membership type covers, and what a member gets for their subscription.
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Why UK JournoHub Features the NUJ
Most of the organisations we profile do one thing for journalists: fund training, defend press freedom in the courts, support people after trauma, convene editors. The NUJ is the only body on our list that touches nearly all of it at once — collective bargaining, individual legal representation, professional ethics, press accreditation, freelance rates, safety, and hardship relief — and it does so as a membership organisation you can join today.
That breadth is exactly why so much confusion surrounds it. Journalists routinely conflate the union with a regulator, assume the press card is a state document, imagine that freelances cannot join, or discover the 13-week qualifying period for legal assistance only at the moment they need a lawyer. Those are avoidable mistakes, and they are the kind this page exists to correct.
We feature the NUJ because understanding how a chapel becomes recognised, or what a Delegate Meeting motion can and cannot do, is basic professional literacy for anyone working in UK or Irish media — whether or not you ever join.
What the NUJ Is
The National Union of Journalists is a trade union covering journalists and media workers in both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland — a single union across two states, which is unusual and has real consequences for how it is structured. The TUC’s union listing gives its founding year as 1907. Its own About page describes it as one of the largest independent journalists’ unions in the world, and notes that members work across newspapers, broadcasting, book publishing, magazines, websites, social media, and PR agencies, in roles from reporting and photography to design, videography, and presenting.
Both staff and freelance
The union states that nearly 54 per cent of its members are staff and over 46 per cent are freelances — figures which include agency workers, casuals, and people on fixed-term contracts. Freelance membership is not a fringe category here; it is close to half the union.
Two jurisdictions
The union publishes separate rights-at-work guidance for the UK, for Northern Ireland, and for the Republic of Ireland, and runs an Irish Executive Council alongside Scottish and Welsh executive councils and a Continental European Council.
Not party-affiliated
The union states that it is not affiliated to any political party. It maintains a cross-party parliamentary group at Westminster and has lobbied successive Irish governments on freelance rights and professional issues.
Federated and international
The NUJ is an affiliate of the TUC, the Scottish TUC, the Wales TUC, and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and of the International Federation of Journalists, which the union describes as bringing together more than 600,000 journalists worldwide.
A note on membership figures
We do not publish a membership number of our own. The TUC’s union listing for the NUJ, checked at the review date on this page, described the union as having more than 22,000 members and gave a total of 22,117. Union membership returns are filed periodically and move between filings, so treat that as the figure the TUC was publishing at that date rather than a live count.
How the Union Is Structured
The NUJ describes itself as a democratic, member-led union. Four layers matter for understanding almost any NUJ story you will read or write.
- ›Chapels — the workplace layer
The union’s organisation inside a workplace. A chapel covers the members in that workplace, or part of it, plus freelances who regularly work for the employer. Large workplaces or media groups with separate sites and titles can have several chapels that come together as a group chapel on company-wide issues.
- ›Branches — the geographic layer
Branches bring together members from different workplaces, organised geographically, and split by sector in the largest urban areas — the union names Cork, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and London. Branches are open to all members, including freelances working for many employers, students, and retired members. Particularly large workplaces such as the BBC, the Guardian, and the Financial Times have workplace-specific chapel branches.
- ›Councils — the sector and national layer
Sector councils in England and executive councils in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales plan and oversee recruitment, organising, disputes and industrial action, and events in their area. The rulebook glossary also lists six industrial councils covering broadcasting, freelance, magazines and books, newspapers and agencies, new media, and public relations and communications. Four equality bodies sit alongside them: the Black Members’ Council, the Disabled Members’ Council, the 60+ Council, and the Equality Council.
- ›The NEC and the Delegate Meeting — the governing layer
The Delegate Meeting (DM) is the union’s policy-making conference. Between DMs, the National Executive Council is responsible for enacting its instructions and overseeing the union’s sector, executive and equality bodies.
The Delegate Meeting, the NEC, and the general secretary
Delegate Meeting.The union’s conference and main policy-making body. Its own DM page states that since 2014 the DM normally happens every two years; the rulebook glossary describes it as held at least every 18 months, and provides for a special delegate meeting to be called by the NEC or by branches. Branches submit motions and amendments and send most delegates. Motions that pass become union policy. The conference also scrutinises the union’s accounts and receives reports from each sector and body, and industrial sectors hold their own conferences alongside it. Subscription rates are set by members at the DM.
National Executive Council.The union’s main supervisory body. Members are nominated to NEC seats by branches and then elected by the constituency they represent in a postal ballot. The union states that all but one member of the NEC are elected from the membership every two years and are unpaid, the exception being the general secretary, who also sits on it.
General secretary and national officers.The general secretary is the union’s senior official: an elected, salaried post with a five-year term. The national officers — president, vice-president, and honorary general treasurer — are elected from the membership of the NEC for the two-year period between Delegate Meetings, and the roles can be job-shared. We deliberately do not name current postholders here, because they change on those cycles; the union’s leadership page lists who holds each post today.
Chapels, FoCs, and Workplace Recognition
This is the terminology outsiders get wrong most often, so it is worth being precise. A chapel is the NUJ’s workplace unit — what most unions would call a branch or a shop. The union says a chapel can be formed by a group of members in a workplace, usually three or more, and that forming one is the first step to organising the union in that workplace.
The name is inherited from the print trade. The union’s own history note says the origins are unclear, with references to workplace chapels as far back as Joseph Moxon’s printing manual Mechanick Exercises(1683–85), and offers several possible explanations: early printing offices sat in or near religious chapels, bibles and religious texts made up much of early printers’ work, chapels were safe meeting places when worker organisations were banned, and early guilds often had their own chapels.
Chapel Chair or FoC/MoC? Both are current
The traditional titles for a chapel’s lead representative are Father of the Chapel and Mother of the Chapel— FoC and MoC. The union’s rulebook glossary, which forms Appendix G of the rules, still defines “M/FoC – Mother or Father of Chapel” as the office representative or shop steward, and the draft chapel rules at Appendix E still refer to the “father/mother” convening meetings.
But the union’s current chapel guidance states plainly that “the lead rep in a chapel is known as the Chapel Chair,” and the same draft rules list a chapel’s officers as a chair and a clerk, an equality officer, and a welfare officer. If you are quoting someone in copy, use the title they use for themselves; if you are asking who to talk to in a newsroom, either term will be understood.
Chapel officers
The union says chapels should elect people to chapel roles annually. The main roles it lists are chapel chair (who chairs meetings and usually leads negotiations with management, and can be shared between more than one person), secretary, equality officer, and welfare officer. Larger chapels may add a deputy chair and a treasurer, and may build a wider committee with roles such as environmental rep, health and safety rep, communications rep, recruitment rep, membership rep, and branch liaison.
Two details worth knowing.The union notes that trained health and safety reps have legal powers even where the union is not recognised — a rare case where statute gives a workplace rep standing regardless of the employer’s cooperation. And the union’s draft chapel rules say chapel business is private and confidential, that disclosure of chapel affairs to outsiders is a disciplinary offence, and that an editor is not eligible to hold the office of chair or clerk.
Recognition: the distinction that matters
The union draws a clear line between recognised and unrecognised chapels. A recognisedchapel has an agreement with the employer to represent staff, and recognition is what enables the chapel to negotiate collectively on pay and conditions. An unrecognised chapel can still exist and still function — the union describes it as bringing colleagues together to present a united front, which can improve conditions in the absence of a formal agreement, or serve as the organising base while campaigning for recognition.
When you read that an NUJ chapel has “passed a motion” or “rejected a pay offer”, that is the workplace layer acting. When you read about a ballot for industrial action, the union’s legal department and the relevant council are involved alongside the chapel. Branches, by contrast, do not bargain with employers — their roles are approving membership applications, nominating candidates for union councils and committees, and sending motions and delegates to the Delegate Meeting.
Who Can Join, and the Five Membership Types
A common misconception:“staff” and “freelance” are not separate NUJ membership categories. Both sit inside full membership. The union publishes five main types: full, dual union, temporary, associate, and student.
The union says it represents staff and freelances who live in the UK or Ireland or work for organisations based in those countries, and that membership is also open to English-language journalists who belong to an IFJ-affiliated union with a reciprocal agreement with the NUJ. Beyond reporters, writers, sub-editors and editors, it lists presenters, correspondents, producers and podcasters, PR and communications professionals, illustrators, photographers and videographers, advertising copywriters, front-end developers and coders, journalism teachers in further and higher education, and translators working in editorial and communications settings. Membership is open to any staff at media companies where no other union is active, including staff in non-editorial roles, and to journalists seeking asylum in the UK or Ireland.
Full membership
For staff and freelances with no other full-time job, where at least half your earned income comes from journalistic work. Under-30s qualify at a 25 per cent threshold, but must reach 50 per cent within 12 months of turning 30 to stay eligible. Open to staff on a company contract, agency workers, rostered casuals, contractors, and self-employed freelances, and to journalists seeking asylum.
Three grades based on annual earnings.
Dual union membership
For people who are eligible for full membership, are employed, and belong to another union recognised by the NUJ in a workplace where that union holds the collective agreement and the NUJ does not negotiate on pay.
A single reduced monthly rate.
Temporary membership
For people trying to establish or re-establish themselves as a journalist, who do not yet earn half their income from journalism and have no other full-time job. Available for up to three years, with the rate rising each year.
Rises across the three years.
Associate membership
For people with a full-time job outside journalism who still prepare factual written, visual, or audio material of public concern for dissemination through public media, and who support trade union rights and journalistic standards. Community journalists whose main income is non-journalistic may also qualify.
A single monthly rate.
Student membership
For those studying on a journalism course, or involved in student journalism supported by the National Union of Students in the UK or the Union of Students in Ireland. On finishing your studies you have three months to upgrade, with a discount on the first year of full or temporary membership.
An annual payment for each year of your course.
Rates, and why we are not going to quote many of them
Subscription rates are decided by members at the biennial Delegate Meeting, which means they move. At the review date on this page, the union published full membership in three earnings-based grades ranging from £18.85 to £32.00 per month in sterling, and €22.00 to €39.00 in euro, with student membership at £10.00 or €15.00 per year.
The union also publishes two reductions worth knowing about: a first-year discount for under-25s joining for the first time, set at a third of the lowest full-membership grade, and the “1% Rule”, under which lower-paid members in any sector can apply to pay no more than 1 per cent of their taxable income, subject to a minimum monthly rate. Always take the current figures from the union’s own rates page, not from us.
What Membership Provides
Legal assistance
Free to members in the UK and Ireland, delivered by an in-house legal department working alongside Thompsons Solicitors. Covers employment law and tribunal claims, a free copyright and intellectual property advice service, media law advice on protection of sources, production order applications, seizure of materials or equipment and restricted reporting orders, work-related crime, personal injury, and a free 30-minute consultation on non-employment matters.
Representation at work
Support with bullying and harassment, disciplinary and redundancy processes, and pursuing ethical journalism, plus collective support on recognition claims, consultation on collective redundancies, transfers, and changes to terms and conditions.
Press cards
The union issues UK Press Cards free of charge to eligible members as a UKPCA gatekeeper, along with Republic of Ireland press cards, student press cards for both jurisdictions, and IFJ international press cards at an additional cost.
Training
Professional skills courses spanning feature writing, digital and design skills, filming and editing, podcasting and freelance business skills, plus a four-stage trade union training programme for reps that the union provides free to members.
The 13-week rule
The union states that legal assistance is generally accessed by contacting a chapel or branch representative, an NUJ representative, or a union official; that it usually requires 13 consecutive weeks of continuous membership; and that it will not cover matters that pre-date union membership. Joining after a problem has started is the single most common way members find they are not covered. Provision of legal services is at the union’s discretion and subject to its published legal assistance policy and terms.
The Freelance Office and the Freelance Fees Guide
With over 46 per cent of members working freelance, the union runs dedicated freelance machinery: a freelance office that the union says can advise on fees, contracts, copyright, employment rights and insurance and can assist in pursuing late payers, and a Freelance Industrial Council that members can also approach directly.
The union also points freelances to the Creators’ Rights Alliance Day Rate Guide, and to the collecting societies ALCS and DACS for secondary rights income. Its Freelance Fact Pack, covering contracts, negotiation, accountants, collecting societies and training, sits behind the members’ login — so it is a membership benefit rather than a public resource. Our own freelance rates and late payment guides cover the same ground from outside the union.
The NUJ Press Card and the UK Press Card Authority
This relationship is misunderstood constantly, including by journalists who carry the card. The UK Press Card is not an NUJ document and not a government document. It is issued under a voluntary scheme run by UK Press Card Authority Ltd, which describes itself as wholly owned and collectively controlled by the UK’s major media organisations, industry associations, trade unions and professional associations, and managed through 22 gatekeeper organisations. The UKPCA calls it the only press identity card recognised by the UK chief police officers’ associations, and the scheme rules specify that the reverse of the card carries wording stating that the National Police Chiefs’ Council recognises the holder as a bona fide newsgatherer.
- ›The NUJ is a gatekeeper, not the issuer of record
The NUJ appears on the UKPCA’s published list of gatekeepers, covering journalists in all media, and states on its own site that as a gatekeeper of the UKPCA it issues more than half the cards in circulation in the UK, free of charge to members eligible under the rules of the scheme.
- ›You do not have to be in a union to hold one
Clause 3.1 of the scheme rules states that eligibility does not depend upon membership or non-membership of any organisation, and that the definition of an eligible newsgatherer rests only in the hands of the industry. What you need is a gatekeeper willing to issue to you — which may be your employer, a trade association, or a union.
- ›The eligibility test is about newsgathering, not job title
The scheme defines an eligible newsgatherer as someone working professionally as a media worker in the UK whose employment or self-employment is wholly or significantly concerned with gathering, transporting or processing information or images for publication, and who needs to identify themselves in public or to official services in the course of those duties.
- ›Your NUJ membership card is not a press card
The union is explicit that the permanent membership card sent with your welcome letter shows you are a member and cannot be used as press accreditation. Applying for or renewing an actual press card is done through the members’ login on the union’s site.
- ›Ireland works differently
The NUJ in Ireland issues a Republic of Ireland press card to members, available in English or Irish, which it says is recognised by the statutory agencies, police and army. The union notes that Ireland does not have the gatekeeper system that operates in the UK.
On verification and fakes.The UKPCA operates a telephone verification hotline that matches a card number against a PIN known to the holder, and warns that organisations selling “press cards”, particularly for a fee, are issuing documents with no standing. It publishes the current hotline number on its site — and changed that number in 2025, so take it from the UKPCA rather than from an older printed source.
Both nuj.org.uk and presscards.co.uk responded normally when we checked them for this page, including the UKPCA scheme rules and gatekeeper list. Our wider press cards guide covers the other gatekeepers and what a card does and does not get you at a cordon.
The NUJ Code of Conduct
The union states that its Code of Conduct has set out the main principles of UK and Irish journalism since 1936, that it forms part of the rules of the union as Appendix A, and that the current version was updated in 2011. It is a short document — a dozen clauses covering media freedom, accuracy, correction of harmful inaccuracies, separating fact from opinion, honest methods of obtaining material, intrusion, protection of sources, resisting inducements, discrimination, endorsements, interviewing children, and plagiarism.
Two features distinguish it from the codes journalists more often encounter. First, it binds individualsas a condition of union membership, where the Editors’ Code enforced by IPSO and the Ofcom Broadcasting Code bind publishers and licensees. Second, the union commits to supporting journalists who act according to the code, and states that any journalist has the right to refuse an assignment, or to refuse to be identified as the author of editorial, that would break its letter or spirit. The union has long campaigned for a contractual “conscience clause” giving journalists protection from dismissal for standing on a point of journalistic ethics.
The Ethics Council was set up in 1986, after the union left what was then the Press Council. It now limits complaints to those made about members by other members, though it says it still receives occasional complaints from the public and will take up serious ones through one of its own members. It runs a confidential peer-to-peer ethics hotline for members facing difficult decisions on a story, and where a complaint is upheld it makes a recommendation to the NEC, which holds the sanction.
We do not reproduce the Code here. Our clause-by-clause guide to the NUJ Code of Conduct sets out each clause with worked examples and compares it to the Editors’ Code and the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, and the authoritative text is on the union’s own site, where a Welsh-language version is also published.
Safety, Welfare, and NUJ Extra
The union runs a health and safety committee that it describes as linking safety representatives with the rest of the union, coordinating their activities, providing information and support, and coordinating union-wide campaigns. It publishes running coverage of attacks, abuse and harassment against journalists, a record of journalists killed, and guidance on post-traumatic stress disorder aimed at reporters and camera operators exposed to distressing scenes — and it stresses that this is not only a conflict-zone problem.
NUJ Extra: the welfare charity
NUJ Extra is the union’s welfare charity. The rulebook glossary describes it as a charitable trust established in 1909 to bring relief from poverty to NUJ members and to the families and dependants of deceased NUJ members. It makes grants to members hit by sickness, accident, or other unforeseen circumstances — the charity gives examples including one-off grants toward urgent utility bills, home adaptations after a sudden disability, and removal costs for members fleeing violent partners.
Who it helps: current full members; former full members who resigned from the union on retiring or leaving journalism; and dependants of members and former members who have died.
Restrictions the charity publishes:it cannot assist temporary, student, or asylum-seeker members; full members must have paid at least one year’s contributions; past members need documentary proof of regular contributions; lapsed members are not normally assisted; and it helps with short-term difficulty rather than subsidising members who cannot make a living from journalism.
How it works:applications go in online or on a printable form. The charity contacts the nearest NUJ branch, and where there is a branch welfare officer they will make contact and report on circumstances — which is why chapels elect welfare officers and why the union tells them to know the NUJ Extra guidelines. The chair can make an urgent decision that trustees later endorse. Trustees are volunteers, not paid staff, and meet four times a year. The charity is funded by members, branches and chapels.
The union lists two further charities alongside it: the George Viner Memorial Fund and the Journalists’ Copyright Fund, which the union says it administers with the Chartered Institute of Journalists and the Society of Authors to award grants for projects associated with copyright. The George Viner Fund’s page showed applications closed when we checked it, so check its current status before referring anyone to it.
The union’s current campaigns include “Journalism before algorithms”, calling for regulatory oversight of artificial intelligence and respect for journalists’ copyright including that of freelances; “#ShowUstheMoney” on salary transparency in job adverts; and “Let’s Stop SLAPPs”, pressing the UK and Irish governments to act against abusive lawsuits aimed at public-interest journalism.
How a Journalist Actually Joins
Joining is an online application, but it is an evidenced one — the union is verifying that you meet the income and occupation tests for the grade you are applying to, and branches approve new applications. Have the following ready before you start.
- 1Work out which type you are applying for
Full, dual union, temporary, associate, or student. The determining questions are how much of your earned income comes from journalistic work, whether you hold another full-time job, and whether another recognised union already negotiates your pay.
- 2Gather your income and bank details
The union says you will need to know your current income and how much of it comes from journalism, plus your bank account details for the subscription.
- 3Prepare the evidence for your route
Staff journalists are asked for a copy of a payslip. Freelances applying for full membership are asked for evidence of recent work, invoices for that work, and a bank statement showing that they were paid.
- 4Apply, then expect branch approval
Applications are approved by branches. Members are assigned to a branch when they apply, but the union says every member is free to belong to any branch they choose and can change branch in the My Membership area of their profile.
- 5Then do the two things new members forget
Apply for your press card through the members’ login if you are eligible, and find out whether there is a chapel where you work. If there is not, three or more members can form one.
One timing point is worth repeating: legal assistance usually requires 13 consecutive weeks of continuous membership and does not cover matters pre-dating your membership. If you are weighing up joining, the useful time to do it is before you need it.
Related Guides on UK JournoHub
Primary sources
- About us— NUJ
- Union structure— NUJ
- Chapels and branches— NUJ
- Chapels: rulebook roles and chapel officers— NUJ
- Delegate meeting— NUJ
- Leadership: NEC, general secretary and national officers— NUJ
- Glossary of union bodies and officers (Appendix G of the rules)— NUJ
- Draft rules for office chapels (Appendix E of the rule book)— NUJ
- Code of conduct— NUJ
- Ethics and the Ethics Council— NUJ
- NUJ affiliations— NUJ
- Join the NUJ: benefits, eligibility and how to apply— NUJ
- Who can join?— NUJ
- How much will it cost? Membership types and rates— NUJ
- Press and membership cards— NUJ
- Legal assistance— NUJ
- Health and safety— NUJ
- Freelance resources: the freelance office, directory and fees guide— NUJ
- NUJ training— NUJ
- NUJ extra: the union welfare charity— NUJ
- UK Press Card Authority— UKPCA
- The Scheme Rules (issued September 2015)— UKPCA
- List of gatekeepers— UKPCA
- Freelance Fees Guide— NUJ London Freelance Branch
- Rate for the Job— NUJ London Freelance Branch
- NUJ Freelance Directory— NUJ
- NUJ union listing: founding year and membership figures— Trades Union Congress
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the NUJ?
Is UK JournoHub affiliated with the NUJ?
What is an NUJ chapel, and what is an FoC or MoC?
What are the NUJ membership categories?
Do I have to join the NUJ to get a UK Press Card?
What does NUJ membership actually get you?
What is NUJ Extra?
Where does the NUJ Code of Conduct fit alongside IPSO and Ofcom?
Go to the Union Directly
Everything on this page is drawn from the NUJ’s own published pages and from the UK Press Card Authority. For membership, press cards, legal assistance, and welfare support, start at nuj.org.uk.
Contact and Branches
Head Office
National Union of JournalistsHeadland House
72 Acton Street
London WC1X 9NBContact details on nuj.org.uk →
Finding your branch
Branches are the layer most members deal with day to day — meetings, advice, and the route to union elections and Delegate Meeting motions. The union publishes a branch contacts directory, and members can change branch from their own profile.
Branch contacts →More on organisations, ethics and accreditation
Explore UK JournoHub’s profiles of the bodies that shape UK journalism, our ethics guides, and our explainer on press cards.