- Conference
- 2026 National Community Conference and Seminar
- Date
- 6 November 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that precarious employment is common across the Community service group – from care workers on zero hours contracts, to voluntary sector workers on rolling temporary contracts. This has a negative impact on all workers, leaving them unable to plan for their future, or even budget week to week. This affects young workers in particular who are at the beginning of their career as it can be difficult to secure enough quality work to provide a solid foundation of experience.
Lack of progression opportunities also means that many may have to leave their employer, and even the community sector, in order to improve their wage. The Skills for Care report highlighted the fact that progression in social care is rewarded far less than progression in comparable employers such as the NHS. This contributes to high levels of turnover making it more difficult to organise workers in the sector. It also leads to high vacancy levels in some sectors which lead to overwork and stress for other workers.
Conference welcomes the promise of the Employment Rights Bill to put an end to exploitative zero-hours contracts, and recognises the important work UNISON did with the Labour party to bring this about. Conference hopes this will improve the situation across the Community Service Group, giving many workers the ability to predict their weekly hours and pay, and improve their ability to plan for the future.
Conference also recognises the importance of the work being done in social care and other sectors by UNISON’s Strategic Organising Unit and the Organising to Win project. It is essential to organise across the Community Service Group, despite the structural difficulties in building bargaining power across small employers and where there is a high turnover of staff.
Conference asks the Community Service Group executive to:
1)Continue to support branches in negotiating for more secure work, including promoting and sharing the relevant bargaining guides and resources to support negotiations;
2)Prepare for the implementation of the Employment Rights Act, when passed, by assessing the impact on Community members and branches of the proposed improvements to employment rights, including the abolition of exploitative zero-hours contracts;
3)Continue to work with the Strategic Organising Unit to support and develop their work in the Community Sector;
4)Work with Labour Link, UNISON’s National Executive Council, and other relevant parts of the union to press for better funding in the voluntary sector and for social care.