Providers and Consumers Working Together

Conference regrets that UNISON’s press statements on public services are often perceived as the voice only of the providers of services. UNISON’s members, particularly retired members, are also consumers of services with similar concerns to those working in those services and are committed to the provision of quality public services . Conference therefore asks the […]

Contrast Printing

Conference is alarmed by the continued use of small letters and the inappropriate use of colour printing on coloured paper so frequently used in publications. These practices are not acceptable to the elderly. Conference therefore instructs the National Retired Members’ Committee to seek advice from UNISON’s National Disabled Members’ Committee and to take up this […]

Entitlements to Health and Social Care

Conference believes that many older people are not fully aware of their entitlements to receive proper health and social care, in a way which suits their own circumstances. Where this is the case, patients may be deprived of their entitlements by misleading information from health care providers under financial pressure to cut services. Particular issues […]

Pensioners Holiday Insurance

Conference notes that pensioners, especially those over 80 years of age when seeking holiday insurance are either being refused insurance or being asked to pay exhorbitant rates. At present insurance to Europe if you are over 75 years of age costs £96 a couple for two weeks and insurers do not provide yearly travel insurance […]

Toilets

Conference calls upon the National Executive Council and the National Retired Members’ Committee to pressurise local authorities to stop the closure of public conveniences, as this particularly affects the older people and the disabled. Provision of toilets should be a statutory requirement for local authorities.

Clinical Assessment, Treatment and Support Services (CATS)

Conference notes the Government’s latest interference with the National Health Service (NHS) So far, two insert “CATS (Clinical Assessment, Treatment and Support Services) have been agreed in Lancashire, both in the same NHS Foundation Trust, which covers two hospitals. One is to be provided by a South African company and sited near to one of […]

Transport Public Hospital Bus Passes

Conference notes that pensioners who are sent to hospital long distances from their homes are being denied hospital transport. Large parts of the country have no direct public transport to hospitals, forcing some pensioners to pay as much as £100 return taxi fare to attend a hospital appointment. Even pensioners needing chemotherapy treatment for cancer […]

Elder Abuse: Human Rights in Private Care Homes

In view of the fact that the rights of elderly people in private rest homes are not covered by the Human Rights Act, Conference urges the National Retired Members’ Committee to take note of recent well documented cases of abuse of elderly people in these institutions and to campaign for the section of the Human […]

Fuel Poverty

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, in his March 2006 budget, totally ignored the needs of pensioners coping with higher fuel bills. Fuel poverty is described as being when a household spends at least 10 percent of its income on fuel costs. The fuel allowance, which has remained at £200 since 2003, was not […]

Utilities V Pensions

Once again, this vital issue is being raised at this Conference. Pensioners across the country are now facing yet again massive increases in utility bills. The increases in occupational and Government pensions do not meet the increases imposed by the utilities. This Conference instructs the National Retired Members Committee and calls on the National Executive […]

Homecare Services

Conference notes with despair the continuing outsourcing of local authority services. Many of the services have a direct effect upon retired members. The latest services currently being targeted for privatisation is homecare. Retired citizens are the major users of this service. Conference therefore , whilst congratulating UNISON on its Save Our Homecare Services Campaign which […]

Making the Gender Equality Duty work for all women in local government

Conference welcomes the new duty on local authorities and other public bodies in England, Scotland and Wales to proactively promote gender equality, following the similar, longer-standing duty in Northern Ireland. The gender duty requires local authorities, when carrying out their functions, to have due regard to the need to: 1Promote equality of opportunity between women […]

LOCAL GOVERNMENT FUNDING

Conference notes that since Labour came into power in 1997, parts of local government have received welcome investment and started to recover from the lean Tory years. For example, by 2007/8, local government in England will have seen a 39% increase in overall funding in real terms since 1997. Much of this has been in […]

SCHOOL STAFF NATIONAL FRAMEWORK

Following on from previous Local Government Conference decisions, this conference welcomes the movement towards establishing a national framework for school support staff in England. Conference notes that over one third of schools in England are already self governing, with staff directly employed by the school, and that this figure is likely to increase. Given this […]

EQUALITY DUTIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Conference welcomes the equality duties on race, disability and gender which require local authorities to promote equality of opportunity and eliminate discrimination for service users and staff, rather than wait for individuals to complain. Existing practices and any changes to employment or service delivery must be assessed to examine their impact – giving branches a […]