- Conference
- 2024 National Community Conference and Seminar
- Date
- 14 November 2023
- Decision
- Carried
A significant number of UNISON’s social care members are in the Community Service Group.
Conference notes UNISON’s ongoing campaign for a National Care Service and national terms and conditions for social care workers in England. This campaign includes an explicit call for improved sick pay in social care, including full wages for periods of self-isolation. UNISON is campaigning on this issue on the grounds of fairness and as an infection control measure.
Care workers who need to take time off because of illness are doing the right thing and they should not be penalised financially for doing so. Social care is already an underpaid profession and failure to pay sick pay is simply wrong. But this failure also puts recipients of social care and co-workers at risk. Many people receiving social care are elderly and/or have conditions which place them at particular risk from viral and other infections. The lack of sick pay in social care places significant financial pressure on care workers to attend work when they have Covid-19 or other transmissible conditions. During the pandemic this contributed to avoidable loss of life of care recipients and other care workers. Delivering improved sick pay would help to keep people safe from potentially dangerous infections.
The Community service group should continue and intensify campaigning for all care workers to receive improved sick pay. All care providers should be mandated to do the right thing, keep people safe and deliver significantly improved sick pay, equivalent to arrangements in local government and the NHS. This to be fully funded by central government and form part of a national fair pay agreement – a building block towards a national care service in England.
Conference recognises that social care workforce issues are devolved in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and believes improvements in sick pay should be delivered across the UK.
Conference therefore calls on the Community Service Group Executive to:
•Campaign with other service groups for the implementation of a National Fair Pay Agreement in England for social care which includes the provision of improved sick pay for care workers.
•Campaign for full funding from government to improve sick pay in social care, including additional funding allocated by the UK Government for all devolved administrations.
•Work with UNISON Labour Link, the National Executive Council and other stakeholders including lobbying political parties in positions of power and influence in Scotland, Cymru/Wales, and Northern Ireland to highlight the issues of sick pay in social care across the UK and work for a resolution of this issue.
