Fighting Unfair Work Capability Assessments

Conference is concerned at the number of deaths following Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit (UC) claimants being found fit for work or where claimants have been denied Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payments (PIP). Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) figures show that over 2,300 former claimants of sickness-related benefits […]

Educate to celebrate our diverse disabled and LGBT+ families

Conference welcomes the introduction of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Plus (LGBT+) inclusive relationship education in primary schools and relationship and sex education in secondary schools, which forms part of the Department for Education’s statutory guidance, applying to all maintained schools, academies and free schools. Although the mainstream media has focused on the inclusion of […]

Black Disabled People and the Windrush scandal

Conference condemns the Home Office’s politically motivated decision to classify thousands of long-term British residents as illegal immigrants, forcing many of them out of their jobs and homes, and in extreme cases, resulting in detention and deportation. Conference notes that many victims of the Windrush scandal are Black disabled people and the impact of the […]

Access to Mental Health services for Deaf people

Conference notes that Deaf people are twice as likely as hearing people to experience mental health problems, yet they do not have equal access to services. Mental health services are often inaccessible for Deaf people. For example members have reported that they are referred to counselling services where the counsellor does not sign and therefore […]

Disability Passports in the Workplace

Many of our members are not receiving the reasonable adjustments they need in the workplace environment, whether it be removing physical barriers or providing additional support for a disabled employee to protect against substantial disadvantage. A way to encourage the introduction and continuous support of reasonable adjustments would be a disability passport document. A disability […]

Opposing the Cap on Exit Payments

Conference notes that in 2015 and 2016 the Government legislated for a cap of £95,000 on exit payments in the public sector. In April 2019 the Government launched a consultation on proposed draft regulations and guidance to bring the legislation into force. The consultation ends on 3 July 2019. Conference further notes that: 1) The […]

Excluding future HE, FE and sixth form staff from LGPS (England)

This union opposes plans, outlined in the consultation “Local Government Pension Scheme: Changes to the Local Valuation Cycle and the Management of Employer Risk” launched on the 9th May 2019, from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government , that would allow further education colleges (FECs), higher education institutions (HEIs), and sixth form colleges […]

Increasing access for young workers to training and professional development

Conference notes that austerity has seen local authority spending on in work training slashed as staff development budgets have been cut back to the bone. In social care private sector providers focused on making profits provide the bare minimum of opportunities for training. There has also been a shift to online and distance learning and […]

Councils at breaking point – highlighting the damage

Conference notes that cuts to local government services are biting ever deeper and deplores the damage they are wreaking on local services and our members who work in them. The impact on our members includes job losses, increasing severity and complexity of service user needs, and reduced pay and terms and conditions. Our members are […]

Divest from Carbon Campaign – Save our future, save our planet

Conference recognises the real threat of climate change to our planet. According to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC) human activities are estimated to have caused approximately 1C of global warming above pre-industrial levels. The Paris Agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change […]

LGBT – the + factor

Conference celebrates UNISON’s work over the past 25 years to promote women’s equality and participation and to tackle sexism and sex discrimination at work, in our union and across society. Like other service groups, the local government service group has a majority of women members and our rules and practices to encourage women’s participation are […]

Undermining of terms and conditions

UNISON in Northern Ireland represents thousands of workers in the education sector and plays a leading role at the regional bargaining tables on behalf of our members. These workers are the cooks, the cleaners, the maintenance and admin staff who are the backbone of the further education, primary and secondary school support services. Together with […]

Food Standards Agency – pay, terms and conditions

Conference notes that our members’ employed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) have not had a decent pay rise since the coalition and the Conservative governments took office. Civil servants are under extreme pressure due to Brexit but are told there is no money for them. Conference also notes that government cuts and austerity have […]

Education funding formula

UNISON Northern Ireland is pressing for greater transparency in the Education Funding Formula. The funding of education in our region is as complex as the governance arrangements. The total amount to be spent on schools is called general schools budget and is made up of three categories of spending: 1)The aggregated school budget available to […]

Double jeopardy – the impact of local government cuts on women

Conference notes that the impact of austerity and cuts to local government funding is particularly hard on women – the workforce is predominantly female, many of whom who are low paid. Conference also notes that there is a double jeopardy for these women. As well as bearing the brunt of cuts in pay, terms and […]