Public Holidays at Weekends

Conference notes that this year Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on a Sunday. On such occasions when any part of the Christmas and New Year holidays fall on a weekend Police Officers working shifts receive paid compensation additional to the Sunday, i.e. Tuesday 27th December and Monday 2nd January are effectively Bank and […]

Facility Time

Conference welcomes the UNISON National project and campaign ‘A Time to Act’. This Conference is aware of certain inequities in the Police Service in the provision of time off for trade union duties and activities. Conference is aware of existing policy as enacted as a result of Motion 22 of the 2004 Conference namely ‘Union […]

Mandatory Testing for Substance Abuse

This Conference notes that mandatory testing for substance abuse has been introduced for all staff in the North Wales Police, with the intention of rolling it out to all other Police services in the future. This is an especially sensitive subject, requiring serious consultation arrangements. This Conference expresses its grave concern that such a procedure […]

Reimbursement of extra expense incurred as a result of attending court at short notice

Conference instructs the Service Group Executive to enter into negotiations at the Police Staff Council to reimburse the additional costs (i.e. childcare) incurred by Police Staff when attending court on behalf of the Police Authority at short notice.

Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill

This Conference welcomes the provision of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill which allows for the further expansion of Police Staff into more front line roles within the Police Service. However Conference is concerned that the provision of Police Staff in the role of designated custody officer could lead to the privatisation of custody […]

Facility Time and Shift workers

This Conference is concerned at the continued difficulties faced by UNISON activists who are shift workers. It is likely that shift workers bear the brunt of inadequate facility time because: 1) Police Staff work in posts where release is more difficult because of their involvement in direct emergency service delivery 2) Facilities agreements do not […]

Police Staff Discipline

Police employers approach discipline in a unique manner, it is often a mixture of criminal and employment procedures. Police Staff are often treated like criminals on occasion and suffer unnecessary distress as a result. Conference believes that Police Staff should be treated appropriately. Conference instructs the Service Group Executive to provide appropriate guidance, including legal […]

Pensionable Pay

Conference notes that the proposed 2008 Pension Regulations include an increase in employee contributions for many employees whilst also proposing pensionable pay to be based on basic pay only excluding bonuses and shift allowances. Conference instructs the Service Group Executive to: 1) Lobby Parliament to ensure that all gross pay elements will be pensionable. In […]

Completing the Picture – Raising the Profile of Non-Clinical NHS Staff

Conference welcomes the campaign ‘Completing the Picture’ which aims to raise the profile of clerical, administrative and managerial staff in the NHS. This campaign, organised by UNISON with the NHS Confederation, won the support of 116 MP’s who signed an Early Day Motion in October/November 2004. The campaign pack features real people doing real jobs, […]

Associate Mental Health Practitioner

This conference is becoming increasingly alarmed at the introduction of a new worker called the Associate Mental Health Practitioner (AMHP) within a large mental health trust in the South East of England. The AMHP was originally introduced in response to a shortage of registered mental health nurses in that particular geographical area but is now […]

Mental Health Services

This conference recognises that much of the current mental health legislation dates back to the 1950’s and that even the most recent amendments to the Mental Health Act in 1983 are now seriously out of date. Many improvements to mental health services, particularly over the last 5 years, have necessitated a root and branch review […]

Back Door Cuts in NHS Funding

Conference notes that ‘recycling’ money, annual ‘efficiency savings’, ‘top-slicing’ for different purposes, ‘brokerage’ and multiple announcements of the same pots of new money have long been features of Government funding of the NHS. Making sense of the direct funding of individual Trusts has become a nightmare, even before variable, activity-based funding and PFI contracts are […]

Recruitment of Overseas Nurses and Carers

Conference notes the continued recruitment of Overseas Nurses and Carers into the Healthcare Sector of the United Kingdom and in particular those recruited to work in the Private Healthcare Sector. UNISON has been at the forefront of many initiatives to highlight the exploitation of overseas nurses, and a number of helpful initiatives have emerged. Despite […]

Unsocial Hours and Agenda for Change

Conference notes that negotiations are to continue later this year on harmonised unsocial hours payments under AfC. 1.Conference believes that unsocial hours payment should be directly linked to unsocial hours worked as in the current Whitley system; 2.Conference does not believe that the introduction of a percentage addition to basic pay, dependant on average unsocial […]

Funding for Back-Fill to Implement Agenda for Change

Conference notes that just prior to the Special Conference on Agenda for Change the Government announced £30 million would be made available to support the funding of back-fill for union activists to enable us to implement it properly. This was then clarified as being £15 million in 2004/5 and £15 million in 2005/6. Facility time […]