The Mental Capacity Act and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People

Conference welcomes the recent Personalisation in Social Care documentation released earlier this year, which describes the personalisation of care packages for those who require them. Personalisation considers the individual and puts them at the centre of the process of making important choices about their care and how they can be effectively supported. The Social Care […]

Increased Age Of Single Person’s Housing Allowance

This Conference believes that the current housing benefit regulations already put young people at a disadvantage. Single Housing Benefit claimants living in the rented sector who are aged under 25 are classed in secondary legislation as “young individuals” for Housing Benefit purposes. When calculating the amount of Housing Benefit payable they are restricted to the […]

Negotiating In The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Voluntary Sector

Conference celebrates the long standing and well documented history of working with, as well as accessing the services of, the voluntary sector that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community has. Organisations such as Broken Rainbow which started in 2002 and the George House Trust which is now in its 26th year offer vital […]

Recruiting and Organising Young Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Members

Conference recognises that young people are among those disproportionately affected by the Tory-led government’s attacks on public services – especially education – jobs, employment rights and pensions. Cuts to youth work services, Connexions, housing benefit, the Education Maintenance Allowance and the hike in tuition fees – all are examples of the government’s contempt for young […]

English Defence League

Conference notes: 1.The ongoing threat from the far right and that cuts in essential public services, increasing poverty, and massive increases in unemployment, create the conditions in which the far right can increase its support. 2.The decision of National Delegate Conference 2011 that the campaign against the far right should be an integral part of […]

Building the Public’s Support For LGBT Public Services

Conference deplores the visible detrimental impact the Tory-led government’s brutal and unnecessary cuts have had on public services, including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) services. These ideologically driven cuts to public sector funding have seen targeted services such as those delivered by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) prevention workers, LGBT Youth Workers and Equalities Officers […]

Donating Blood and the Ban of Gay and Bisexual Men

Conference notes with disappointment the continued discrimination with regards to the donation of blood by gay and bisexual men. It notes that it was announced in early September that the blanket ban on men who had ever had sex with another man, which has been repeatedly identified as unfair and discriminatory, will be replaced in […]

Divorcing Transgender Parents and Legal Access to Children

Conference notes that it was only a few decades ago that Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) men and women were deemed inappropriate and unfit parents. When divorcing from their opposite sex spouse, many were refused custody of their children simply because of their sexual orientation. Direct discrimination by care professionals, such as social workers and […]

Equality and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community

We have seen over the life of the current United Kingdom Government, many cynical attempts to inveigle themselves with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community, but from a public relations man that lacks substance but deals in dogma alone, nobody should be fooled. The reality of the situation is that many LGBT equality […]

Police Cuts Will Undermine The Fight Against Hate Crime

YouGov research has shown that one in five lesbian, gay and bisexual people have experienced a homophobic hate crime or incident in the last three years. And three in four of those didn’t report them to the police. A third of victims don’t report incidents because they don’t think the police would or could do […]

HOW FLEXIBLE IS YOUR EMPLOYER BEING WITH FLEXIBLE WORKING REQUESTS

Too many employers view flexible working as only benefiting the employee. Some employers believe that a desire to work flexibly implies a lack of commitment, that it is primarily a benefit for working mothers and that it will breed resentment among those who don’t work flexibly. These attitudes represent the biggest obstacle to flexible working. […]

SICKNESS ABSENCE POLICIES THAT PENALISE WOMEN UNJUSTLY

The majority of employees in the public sector are women and many of them will experience at some time in their working lives health related absences that result in intrusive and harsh management responses as a consequence of rigid sickness absence policies – often based on the ‘Bradford Factor’ – a human resources tool widely […]

PROTECTED GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SERVICES

In her speech to the annual Women’s Aid National Conference in July 2010 Teresa May claimed “Violence against women is and always has been a priority for me and my ambition is nothing less than ending it”. She promised to ensure that ending violence against women would remain a priority for the coalition government. However, […]

WOMEN AND UK ONLINE

This conference notes that increasing pressure is being placed on households to communicate and gather vital information, and to carry out transactions such as buying licences and paying bills, via the internet. Conference is aware that there are very many current and retired women public service workers, on very low incomes for whom the purchase […]

A MILLION WOMEN UNITED AGAINST CUTS

The coalition government’s emergency budget claimed to be fair, but cuts in jobs and wages, and changes to benefits and taxes, will impact hardest on women – particularly low paid women and their families: 1)Sixty five per cent of public sector workers are women, and almost a quarter of working women are in public sector […]