* National executive council hears of a fourth year of membership growth and welcomes Andrea Egan as general secretary

The first national executive council (NEC) meeting of 2026 was also the first council meeting with Andrea Egan as general secretary.

Congratulated by the union's president Catherine McKenna, Ms Egan acknowledged the historic nature of her victory in last year's election, as she became the first lay member to be elected to run the UK's largest union. She took over from previous general secretary Christina McAnea last month.

"We exist to improve the lives of members," she told NEC members. "We are a union that puts members first. We fight for better pay and conditions for our members and we are strongest when we work together."

The new general secretary vowed to carry on "listening and acting on what the grassroots tell us", and make sure activists are fully equipped with training and resources to be able to do their jobs on behalf of the union.

She urged NEC members to continue to "come together and work together", to carry on championing member engagement wherever they worked and "focus relentlessly on outcomes for members".

Ms Egan continued: "We are the biggest and best resourced union in the country, and we should act like it. We must have a collective effort, all pulling in the same direction, and a culture that supports innovation, reminding ourselves of the bigger picture and our responsibility as leaders."

The general secretary also talked about the crisis in higher education funding, having attended a demonstration in Southend last week, and the ongoing dispute over the government's ban of Palestine Action.

While there was a lot of praise for the Employment Rights Act - parts of which came into law on the day the NEC met - there was some ongoing concern from NEC members about continuing ballot thresholds. The council acknowledged that the union should start preparation work on campaigning for an Employment Rights Act 2.

Also at the meeting, the presidential team highlighted the need for a general union campaign to highlight the value of public service workers in the face of job cuts and members doing more work, for less.

The NEC also received a report on the results of the union's Organising to Win strategy in 2025 which highlighted that the union's overall membership grew for the fourth consecutive year at 1.7% (21,796).

All service groups and sectors, apart from energy and schools, increased in size, with the biggest boost being in social care. Its 6.6% growth exceeded the 5% target. South East and London were the regions that had put on the most members.

There was a third year of growth in the union's activist base, although it fell slightly short of the ambitious target set. The NEC agreed more work was needed to increase the number of the union's activists in the future.

The NEC also:

* received updates from the service groups and on industrial action across the union

* approved the management accounts for the 12 months to 31 December 2025;

* started making arrangements for national delegate conference, which will take place in Brighton on 16-19 June.