- Conference
- 2022 Virtual Higher Education Conference
- Date
- 13 October 2021
- Decision
- Carried
Currently in the UK, almost one in three women will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, while two women a week are murdered by a partner or ex-partner, usually after a sustained period of suffering abuse.
The vast majority of the victims and survivors of domestic abuse are women and children, and women are also considerably more likely to experience repeated and severe forms of violence, and sexual abuse.
The impact of domestic abuse is wide-ranging and will inevitably affect workers and their colleagues. It is important that it is not ignored in the workplace but understood as a serious, recognisable and preventable issue. Abuse can be psychological, financial and emotional, and includes controlling or coercive behaviour.
Conference notes that in January 2021, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy published a report entitled Workplace support for victims of domestic abuse. Conference further notes the open letter from the Business Minister to employers that accompanied the report’s publication that urged employers to ‘consider what pragmatic new measures could be put in place in your workplace to support survivors of domestic abuse’.
Conference believes there is so much that Universities can do as employers, together with trade unions, to spot signs of domestic abuse and support their staff. Few Universities have a domestic violence policy and fewer have one that is adequate to provide the support needed by victims of domestic violence.
Conference resolves to instruct the Service Group Executive to:
Write to all branches to:
1)Encourage them to engage in negotiations with their employer on a domestic violence policy;
2)Circulate UNISON’s model domestic violence policy;
3)Encourage them to request their employer join the join the free Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse;
4)Make them aware of support from organisations such as Hestia for reps supporting members who are the victim of domestic violence;
5)Write to all Higher Education Institutions to ask what steps they have taken to meet the recommendations from the Workplace support for victims of domestic abuse report;
6)Write to Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA) to request that they encourage their members to engage with UNISON in agreeing domestic violence policies and join the free Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse;
7)Collect and share examples of good practice;
8)Publicly call on Universities to adopt UNISON’s model domestic violence policy and join the free Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse.