Conference notes the recent work done by UNISON in relation to hidden costs of working that can impact on health care workers and employees. Far too many workers are being charged for the very essentials they need to go to work. Examples include uniforms and DBS checks. Conference recognises that the biggest costs are often […]
Conference motions
Conference notes that Section 14 Sickness Absence (England) of the NHS Terms and Conditions Handbook clearly states that ‘pay during sickness absence is calculated on the basis of what the individual would have been paid had they been at work’. Conference is concerned that following a series of amendments to the original Agenda for Change […]
Conference notes that the framework agreement for the 2018, 3-year pay deal, required the NHS Staff Council to explore the scope for a collective framework agreement on bank and agency workers. (Section 5.2) This was further referenced in last year’s 2023 Annual report (SGE Work plan): “lead and progress staff council work stream around framework […]
Conference notes that Health workers in Northern Ireland have not received the AFC 2023 award secured in England. Health workers in NI are the lowest paid across the UK again! The absence of devolved government has resulted at the end of 2023 in the collective punishment of public sector workers by withholding funding for pay. […]
Conference notes with concern the growing issue of employers passing on costs to their staff. Uniforms, mandatory training, shadowing, criminal record checks, professional accreditations, carparking and using a car to travel are all essential for staff to be able to do their jobs, provide a good service and keep patients and the community safe. However […]
The Newly Qualified Paramedic (NQP) programme formed part of a UNISON led negotiated agreement to move all paramedics to band 6 in 2016. The programme was designed to provide structure to properly integrate and support NQPs into the ambulance service workplace, enabling time to consistently apply academic knowledge, skills, and placement experience into confident practice […]
Conference, when looking at measurements of engagement such as representation on branch and national committees and attendance at service group and Black members’ conferences the activism levels of Black members in the health service remains an area of concern. Conference should resolve to undertake a mapping exercise to better identify the representation and engagement levels […]
Conference recognises that bank work in the NHS is a varied picture over the regions and devolved nations. For some bank workers, they are solely ‘on the bank’ and work regular or occasional shifts, often due to caring commitments outside of work. Others work ‘on the bank’ for overtime hours or in different roles to […]
Conference notes the steady recruitment of healthcare students and those in education and training pathways to become healthcare professionals, and believes that continuing to recruit healthcare students to UNISON is an essential part of a strategy for a strong UNISON presence in the NHS. Conference recognises the continuing pressures on healthcare students as they balance […]
Conference believes that health workers have better pay and terms and conditions of employment when they are directly employed by NHS organisations. Fourteen years of relentless outsourcing of NHS contracts have seen thousands of NHS staff transfer their employment from the NHS to private companies. We know that as soon as staff transfer out of […]
In 2004 foundation trusts were introduced into the NHS. They remain part of the NHS and are generally larger trusts. When they were introduced, they came with more freedoms in how the hospitals were run and how they meet the demands on them. Over the past twenty years NHS trusts have been merging into mega-trusts, […]
Conference notes the HSGE’s consultation with regional health committees (RHCs) during the autumn of 2023 which looked at issues of democratic legitimacy within the Executive’s ways-of-working. Focusing on HSGE decision-making around pay and bargaining policy, the consultation considered the impact of UK devolution and the balance of time devoted to those members directly covered by […]
Conference notes that, as mandated at Health Conference 2023, UNISON has continued to strengthen and promote its Race for Equality Campaign throughout 2023 Year of Black Workers. Over 100 activists and staff have now been trained as part of a regional roadshow in the use of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) to tackle […]
Following the Letby case in 2023, there is growing political support for regulation of NHS management roles. Conference wants to see a supportive set of standards applied equally to organisations to help them create both a culture of good management and clarity about expectations of managers at all levels, from a first line manager looking […]
Conference notes that NHS Professionals provides temporary clinical and non-clinical staff to the NHS, as bank workers. Originally formed as a national staffing service in 2001, NHSP later became a Special Health Authority. Then in 2008 it was incorporated as a private limited company, owned by the Department of Health and Social Care. In 2017 […]