Starting in January, UNISON’s own case work system for regions and branches, CaseWeb, will have its monthly price of £60 plus VAT cut in half for those branches with 2,000 or fewer members.
Since its launch in 2020, over 120 branches have signed up to use CaseWeb. To increase this number, special delegate conference in June committed to subsidise the price of the system to make it more accessible for smaller branches.
The system contains all the functionality of a standard casework system, including the ability to deal with member enquiries, branch representation and regional referrals, integrated directly with UNISON’s membership system.
It allows branches to keep all their information in one place, with stewards, branch officers and branch staff all able to access members’ case information securely anytime, anywhere – and on any device.
It also allows branches to:
- allocate different levels of access to CaseWeb depending upon the branch role of the user, determined by the branch;
- add case notes, documents and emails at any time during the life of a case;
- add scheduled items that the branch can monitor to ensure that they are carried out;
- link existing cases to previous, closed cases or other current cases and to create collective cases;
- easily audit the history of current or old cases, including what work was done, by whom.
CaseWeb’s live-link to UNISON’s membership system means branches can verify members’ status and contact details instantly.
The one-stop approach to casework means there is no more reliance on employers’ systems to store your confidential case files, no more spreadsheets, and it makes it simple to abide by data protection regulations (GDPR).
How it came about
Motions had been submitted to national delegate conference (NDC) for several years, asking for a case management system to be provided for branches. A first version of the system was demonstrated at NDC in 2019, with a pilot exercise run with 30 branches later that year, with very positive feedback.
The system went live in January 2020, and branches were invited to sign up. There are now almost 200 branches using the system.
In June this year, the branch resources review package was passed by UNISON’s special delegate conference, in motion 72. This included a commitment to subsidise CaseWeb to make it more accessible for smaller branches.
So, from January 2022, any branch with 2,000 members or fewer will pay only £30 + VAT per month for CaseWeb, a subsidy of 50% on the full £60 + VAT cost.
Any branch already using the system with 2,000 members or fewer will also have their monthly charges reduced by 50% with effect from January.
A number of benefits
West Midlands Community branch was one of the branches that trialled the system in 2020.
As a large, complex branch, with 5,300 members spread across more than 650 employers, the branch found the system had a number of benefits:
- the link with UNISON’s membership system was extremely helpful in ensuring they were not breaching GDPR, that members’ details are correct and that they are paying the right subscriptions;
- the system made it easy to assign cases to caseworkers, keep track of how cases progressed and update members on that progress;
- its centralised nature allowed cases to be easily transferred between caseworkers in the event of staff absences;
- through its reporting function, it gave the branch a clear, overall picture of its case work, being able to produce statistics on case outcomes, how many cases related to certain employers and the amount of work each caseworker had on.
Manually logging cases
Branch staff member Sandie Riley said: “From a personal point
of view, I worked for a major corporate company as an IT service manager almost all my working life, until I retired.
“When I started working for UNSION and they were still manually logging cases, I was horrified.
“I have worked for the West Midlands Community branch for six years and when this system came on board, I, personally, found it really helpful. The CaseWeb team are extremely helpful and have been since day one.
“We must make the best of this adaptable system – and I truly believe our branch has.”
CaseWeb is a flexible product to suit all branch structures and is also still evolving, with plans to enable it to link with UNISON’s professional services unit, legal department and Thompsons Solicitors, to speed up getting help to activists and members with their cases.
Already helping
Speaking of the system, general secretary Christina McAnea said: “CaseWeb is already helping dozens of branches and their stewards.
“We want to increase the take up and make sure that cost is not a barrier to our smaller branches.
“That is why, next year, we will introduce a half-price rate for them. Our stewards are often hard pressed and we want to help them in every way we can.”
Find out more
If your branch is interested in using CaseWeb, you can contact UNISON’s dedicated CaseWeb team by going to the website www.caseweb.co.uk and registering your interest or, alternatively, you can email caseweb@unison.co.uk.
The CaseWeb team will arrange and oversee training and is the initial point of contact for any system related questions or issues that you may have.
