The new organising framework – year 2
The next round of the organising framework will launch on 1 October 2025. Data and insight from the previous year have been integral to developing 2025/6 plans for a stronger UNISON.
Feedback has been taken, and the organising framework has been updated to remove some repetition and to incorporate changes for 2025/6 such as the Organising to Win Branch Vision project (see below), the Employment Rights Bill, and the Year of Green Activity and our new membership system, Merlin.
The final deadline for completion is 30 March 2026 but many branches have found it beneficial to complete the process by year end to give a full calendar year for organising objectives and to set the branch up for an objective based budget process.
Branch secretaries should liaise with their regional organiser to set a date and time. The organising framework questions are currently under review by the D&O committee, but a hard copy of questions will be available from your regional organiser by the end of September, so the branch can prepare for the organising framework process. Depending on size of your branch, up to 3 hours is recommended for each of the two sections of the organising framework to ensure sufficient time to review previous year activities and discuss key lessons before setting future objectives and activities. To make the organising framework a seamless process, branch committees can prepare by agreeing their branch organising priorities and budgets in advance.
The resulting branch action plan should then be subject to regular review throughout the year and remain a standing item on branch committee agendas to check branch progress against priority objectives for achieving a stronger and more powerful UNISON.
Branch Vision Project
A strong union is built of strong branches. The Organising to Win Branch Vision project takes key lessons from UNISON’s organising success of recent years and adapts them to branch level.
Any branch can become an Organising to Win branch by progressing through four stages of branch development and activity to build member density, increase participation and activism, and then apply a strategic organising methodology that enables the branch to win at local level.
New activist training and guidance will be available to support branches throughout. Further details are available here.
Training for branch employed staff
More information here.