Care for the Elderly

Given the increasing numbers of elderly people in the next 35 years who will need residentail and/or nursing care, Conference is dismayed at the apparent complacency of successive Governments to tackle this issue. Polls indicate that 82% support the concept that everyone should pay for this care through general taxation, a policy which UNISON supports. […]

Winter Fuel Allowance

Conference is very concerned that the Coalition Government’s Budget on 21 March 2012 did nothing to help pensioners who are unable to cope with high winter fuel bills. The Winter Fuel Allowance was reduced in March 2011 by £100 (down from £400 to £300) for the over 80’s households and by £50 (down from £250 […]

RETIRED MEMBERS: TECHNOLOGY

It is becoming increasingly apparent that some Unison retired members in Branches and Regions are experiencing difficulties in communicating with colleagues as they are not computer literate or able to afford computers, or their health makes it difficult to use. Therefore, this Unison National Retired Members Conference instructs the National Retired Members Committee and calls […]

Frozen Pensions

FROZEN PENSIONS Conference deplores the government’s “frozen pensions” policy whereby British pensioners who live abroad in certain countries only receive a pension at the rate it was in the year they left the UK. There are around 555,000 “frozen” pensioners around the world, almost half of whom live in Australia. One of the oldest is […]

Government’s New Pension Proposals

Conference notes that it remains the intention of the Government to introduce a new flat rate basic state pension, corresponding to a current figure of £140 per week, in 2016. Whilst the introduction of such a flat rate pension will alleviate the disparity between women’s and men’s pensions in the future, Conference notes that the […]

Retired Members’ Outrage at the Budget and Attacks on Pensions

This conference condemns the Coalition Government’s callous attacks on pensioners and the state pension framed in the March 2012 Budget which discriminate against the elderly and will lead to the increased financial insecurity and pensioner poverty. The basic state pension may be rising by 5.2%, a decision taken prior to the budget, but this is […]

Quality of Retired Life

UNISON Retired Members’ Conference reaffirms its commitment to the eradication of pensioner poverty in Britain. This can happen only if there are good quality final salary occupational pensions in both the private and public sectors and a basic state pension linked to earnings. The Coalition’s attack on pensions is driven by a political determination to […]

Triple Lock

The Office of National Statistics and the Royal Statistical Society are engaged in improving the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in particular the inclusion of owner-occupied housing costs and changes in sampling to reduce the distortions of the ‘Formula Effect’. The CPI is regulated by the EU and is designed to make macro-economic comparisons between member […]

Disability discriminination and health workers

This conference is concerned that working conditions for health members are deteriorating and that the use of policies and procedures are being used to the particular detriment of disabled members, eroding both their opportunities for career progression at work and their general living standards. Health employers appear to be failing to meet their employment responsibilities […]

Variable and zero hour contracts and the undermining of Agenda for Change

Conference will be aware that for some time we have seen an increase in zero hours or permanent variable hours contracts within the public sector. Employers within the Northern region have been using variable contracts as a means of compulsory redundancies. NHS Foundation Trusts are not the only ones using using zero hours or variable […]

The hidden cost of cuts undermines equality for women

Conference notes with concern the devastating impact of the cuts in the NHS, and the hidden impact on the earning ability and pensions of women NHS workers. As many as one in three women currently work in the public sector in the UK, and as the majority of both service users and providers, women will […]

Retirement age for ambulance members

Ambulance staff work in uncontrollable and challenging environments. They are often subjected to abuse and injuries undertaking their duties. The Government doesn’t consider ambulance services to be emergency services and describes them as essential services. With the current proposed changes to retirement age this presents a difficult and a seemingly impossible challenge to our members […]

Expose front line staff myth

Whilst Conference acknowledges and supports all the NHS staff who are involved in direct patient/client care and who are traditionally regarded as front line, we reject the government position that they are not affected by the cuts to our NHS with nurses, therapists etc. facing redundancy and service closures constantly. However, we also need to […]

NHS reforms – defending public health

The turn of the millennium is often said to have witnessed a second golden age for Public Health across the UK. In the late 1990s and 2000s new programmes, services and initiatives were commissioned and launched intended to improve the health of our citizens and more directly to reduce the growing health divide between the […]

Any Qualified Provider

Conference is extremely alarmed by the roll out of Any Qualified Provider (AQP). Following experiences with the implementation of the similar Any Willing Provider policy on a West Midlands smoking cessation service, the contract was written in such a way that a number of NHS staff were lawfully made redundant as TUPE did not apply […]