There for You Annual General Meeting and trustee elections – key dates
| AGM registration opens | 9 March 2026 |
| Trustee elections application process opens | 9 March 2026 |
| Trustee elections closing date for receipt of applications | 6 May 2026 |
| AGM registration closes | 20 May 2026 |
| Annual General Meeting | 16 June 2026 |
Action required: Please ensure that your branch welfare officer is aware of the above dates and registers for the AGM if appropriate.
Does your branch AGM agenda include a request to make a donation to There for You and/or play the UNISON lottery?
Due to a reduction in donations received from branches and regions in 2025 – we had to draw down £350,000 from our reserves to fund grants throughout the year and to make sure we could continue being there for members. In 2025, almost every region received more in grants than they donated to the charity.
We’re asking you to put welfare on your next branch meeting agenda so you can help us to help our members.
We have increased our 2026 budget to over £1,000,000 so that we can support more members. The budget for main grant applications and our popular small grant programmes have been increased.
The board of trustees, made up of UNISON activists like you, want to make sure the charity continues to deliver for members – but we can’t do it on our own.
We’re asking you – if your branch can afford it – to please consider setting up a monthly donation to UNISON Welfare – There for You. If every branch made a donation of just 5p per member a month, we would raise £780,000 annually.
Your monthly branch donations would be gratefully received, using the following bank details:
UNISON Welfare
Bank: Unity Trust
Sort Code: 60-83-01
Account No: 20215147
As ever, we are stronger when we work together.
The Step into Spring Grant – Small Grant Programme
This grant provides a £30 voucher towards the cost of a pair of shoes for each eligible member of a household. Voucher for member, partner, [where applicable], and dependent children [for which household is in receipt of Child Benefit].
Applications will open on 19 March at 12 noon, for 24 hours.
Full eligibility criteria is here.
Please tell your members to check the eligibility criteria and save the date to apply.
April Benefit uprates – could your members be missing out?
On 13 April 2026 statutory benefit amounts are set to increase, all members in receipt of benefits are advised to check to ensure the uprates are applied correctly by the DWP.
If you have members who are not currently claiming benefits, or who are unsure if they would qualify, the free, confidential online benefits checker can help them identify what assistance may be available.
Access the free, confidential, online benefits checker.
Click here to order wallet sized information cards with the link to the benefits checker. Branches can order a maximum of 3 packs of these [108 cards in total] from the UNISON online catalogue.