- Conference
- 2022 Local Government Service Group Conference
- Date
- 17 February 2022
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the Tory government, has broken manifesto pledges by raising National Insurance contributions and suspending the ‘triple lock’ on pension increases. On 7th September 2021, it published ‘Build Back Better: Our plan for health and social care’ announcing an impending White Paper on the future provision of adult social care in England.
Conference also notes that that the outsourcing and privatisation of social care has led to deteriorating services and the widespread exploitation of workers through low pay, zero hours contracts and attacks on our members’ pay, terms and conditions while generating profits for hedge funds and shareholders
Conference acknowledges that while this impacts negatively on our members working in social care in innumerable ways, the cuts affect different groups of members in different ways, with disproportionate impact on members of disadvantaged groups. Conference further acknowledges that there is substantial evidence that many social care providers lack understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender plus (LGBT+) issues. This clearly has implications for LGBT+ workers.
Conference also acknowledges that there is roughly a fifty/fifty split in the numbers of adults receiving social care between those who are retired and those of working age. There will be a significant number of LGBT+ people who are, or will be, users of adult social care. Some will be disabled and/or retired LGBT+ UNISON Local Government Service Group members
Conference welcomes UNISON’s continuing campaign for a National Care Service and the continued work undertaken by the Local Government Service Group Executive (in collaboration with other UNISON structures) to promote UNISON’s Ethical Care and Residential Care Charters.
Conference also welcomes the work of the Northern Ireland region in working with statutory and voluntary organisations to develop ‘Guidelines to support the needs of older LGBT+ people in nursing, residential, and day care settings and those who live at home and receive domiciliary care’ and a training programme to support the implementation of these guidelines. This has been aimed at ensuring that staff working in these settings, many of whom are UNISON members, are aware of the particular needs of older LGBT+ service users and implement their right to be treated with dignity and respect. This also contributes to the development of a more inclusive working environment for LGBT+ workers.
Conference therefore calls on the Local Government Service Group Executive to:
1)Continue to work with the National LGBT+ Committee to promote the Ethical and Residential Care Charters, emphasising the importance for LGBT+ members;
2)Urge branches in the service group to use the UNISON LGBT+ bargaining factsheets to review employer policies and agreements with employers with a view to achieving best practice;
3)Work in conjunction with the National LGBT+ Committee and other relevant parts of the union to develop a campaign to promote good practice on supporting LGBT+ workers and LGBT+ service users in social care settings to bodies responsible for the delivery and regulation of social care, drawing on the work already done by the Northern Ireland region;
4)Engage with appropriate UNISON structures to raise awareness of the needs of LGBT+ disabled and older adult social care users requesting that these are included in any UNISON response to the White Paper on the future of adult social care in England;
5)Continue to campaign against the privatisation of social care and for services to be brought back in house, and for a National Care Service.