- Conference
- 2018 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 6 December 2017
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the structure of our SGE has pretty much remained unchanged since the formation of UNISON nearly a quarter of a century ago. However within this time period there have been considerable changes to both the NHS and to pay for healthcare workers.
The UNISON definition of Low Pay is based on the average weekly wage broken down into an hourly rate and reviewed annually.
This can mean that someone can meet the criteria of being low paid one year but not the next, dependent on salary uplift implementation dates and when UNISON redefines the definition of low paid for the purposes of our internal democracy.
Conference congratulates the Scottish Health Committee for achieving the abolition of Band 1 in NHS Scotland & reaffirms this as a bargaining aim for the Healthcare Service Group.
Therefore conference recognises that a long term aim of the service group is to have no-one working in healthcare in the UK who would meet the criteria for the Low Paid seats.
Conference recognises that definition of ‘low pay’ is not directly a matter for this body and that the SGE will require to make representations to the National Executive Council to make any changes to its structure.
This conference calls on the Health Service Group Executive to consult with all stakeholders on how we involve more members in lower pay bands in the work of the Health Service Group Executive including structural changes to the Service Group Equivalent if required with a view to bringing a report to the 2019 Health Conference.