- Conference
- 2026 National Community Conference and Seminar
- Date
- 5 November 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that workers in housing associations deliver vital services — providing homes, support, and community safety for millions of people — yet pay and conditions across the sector vary widely. In recent years, many housing associations have imposed below-inflation pay awards, despite reporting healthy financial surpluses and maintaining high executive pay levels. The cost-of-living crisis continues to hit housing association staff hard, with pay failing to keep pace with inflation, rent increases, and rising household bills. The fragmented nature of the housing association sector means that UNISON members often face isolated or uneven bargaining positions, making it difficult to achieve consistent improvements across employers.
Conference acknowledges that a national model pay claim would provide a strong foundation for branches and regional organisers to negotiate locally, ensuring consistency and fairness across the sector. Such a claim should reflect UNISON’s wider priorities — including real-terms pay restoration, improved annual leave and sick pay, career progression, and recognition of the cost-of-living pressures on members. Establishing a model pay claim would strengthen UNISON’s collective voice in housing, support branch negotiators, and demonstrate sector-wide solidarity.
Conference believes that the success of the Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) in social care shows what can be achieved through sustained, coordinated campaigning and negotiation. Developing a model pay claim will be a key step in building a united approach across housing associations, laying the groundwork for a sector-wide framework agreement or FPA in the future.
Conference calls on the Community Service Group Executive to:
1)Develop and circulate a model pay claim for housing association workers, to be used as a template for branches in pay negotiations.
2)Ensure the model claim includes:
a)A clear benchmark for real-terms pay restoration linked to inflation;
b)Proposals for standardised terms and conditions, including annual leave, sick pay, and unsocial hours payments;
c)Recognition of career progression and professional development;
d)Commitments to equality, diversity, and pay transparency, including closing gender, ethnicity, and disability pay gaps.
e)Encourage all branches with housing association members to submit local claims based on the model and to coordinate through UNISON’s national housing association sector committee for shared campaigning.
f)Encourage all branches with housing association members to report back to the Bargaining Support Unit the details of pay settlements so results can be used for future benchmarking.
g)Develop communications and training materials to support branches in using the model pay claim effectively in negotiations.
h)Encourage branches to coordinate with each other in bargaining, and to share progress on pay claims as they move forward.
i)Use the process of developing and promoting the model pay claim as a foundation for exploring the feasibility of a sector-wide Fair Pay Agreement for housing association workers.
j)Report progress to the next National Community Conference, including outcomes from employers where the model claim has been used.