D received a request to negotiate an agreement from between 10% and 40% of its employees. The council took the view that various collective agreements in place together amounted to a pre-existing agreement, and duly decided to hold a ballot under reg. 8. EAT held that the agreement insufficiently detailed the way the council should inform and consult employees (condition for pre-existing agreement- see above). The agreement stated that it was ‘a forum for discussion and/or consultation on a range of matters not subject to national bargaining’. Hence the council wasn’t entitled to hold a ballot and instead had to start on negotiations. NB EAT also said that both the whole overall agreement, as well as those individual ones comprising it, had to satisfy the 4 conditions.
