What we want from a Labour Government

Conference will note that the austerity measures introduced by the ConDem government have had a disproportionate effect on disabled people. Benefits have been slashed and the work capability assessor has treated disabled people with callousness and inhumanity. Therefore the removal of the ConDem government has to be a priority for disabled people in the next […]

GOVERNMENT WELFARE REFORMS AND CREDIT UNIONS

We condemn the Government’s Welfare Reforms and the resulting impact of the policies on our members. Many members are reliant on welfare due to poverty wages, pay freezes and cuts to their terms and conditions. This has driven many into the arms of loan sharks and payday loan companies. Millions of disabled workers are reliant […]

Fair Representation for Disabled Members in UNISON

This conference is concerned about the level of discrimination currently faced by disabled people. Cuts to public services, welfare reform, changes to health and social care, reductions in disabled students allowances and bedroom tax have all targeted disabled people. To fight this campaign against disabled people disabled people need to be politically and societally active. […]

Equality Facility Time for Disabled Members

At the Discrimination Law Conference in January 2014 Professor Sir Bob Hepple QC said that “if a new government enacts only one new piece of equality legislation it should be to require equality representatives at workplaces” – such reps would require a legal right to time off to “be involved in drawing up and enforcing […]

Bring all Outsourced Police Services back home

South Wales Police and Justice branch demands that conference take forward and Unison encourages all branches with a determined campaign to ensure that even in times of cuts and austerity that it is possible to bring all Police services and staff back in house. On July 1st this year 100 staff who were previously employed […]

Uniform Laundering Allowance

Police staff who are required to launder items of uniform are entitled to claim a tax allowance via Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). There is a marked disparity between police officers, Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) and other uniformed staff with regard to how much they can claim. There may be a logical explanation […]

Overnight Allowance

Currently police staff who are required to work and/or stay away from home overnight are not allowed to claim the £50 overnight allowance that their police officer colleagues can. This motion calls upon the Service Group Executive to undertake work with the Police Staff Council to seek to ensure that this provision is extended to […]

Jobs for the Boys 2014

The cuts to police force budgets have been devastating for the service, and many of our police staff colleagues have been made redundant because of them. A great many of those who have been made redundant are women. As the cuts continue, and forces are not able to reduce police officer numbers other than by […]

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and Scene Preservation

Every day somewhere up and down the country a crime will be committed that requires the scene to preserved for evidence. This could be for a matter of hours, days or weeks dependent on the crime. As police forces face massive cuts in finance police community support officers (PCSOs) are being utilised more and more […]

Stop probation privatisation

It is Chris Graylings ideological view that private companies can run the probation service better than it is currently being run and he somehow believes that inexperienced private companies and their untrained staff can reduce reoffending in a very short period of time. This proposal is not just due to austerity this is yet another […]

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Police Staff

A number of police staff are employed in roles or environments that are confrontational. Many believe that they need to be provided with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as a safety measure. Forces have been issued with guidance with regard to the provision or non provision of PPE for groups of workers that have resulted in […]

Probation on Probation

The changes to the probation service that took effect on 1 June 2014 are yet another example of the condem government dismantling and privatising public services. We believe the changes were not necessary, and that they will ultimately prove to have been a disastrous and costly move. They are quite likely to place the users […]

Protecting Equality in the Probation Service

Conference welcomes the campaigning work by our union against the potential privatisation of the probation service. Alongside concerns about the likely disastrous impact on service delivery are very real concerns about the impact on staff terms and conditions. The probation service, as a public body, was subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty and as […]

Recognising Problems with Regards to Hot-Desking

Police forces across the country in an attempt to save money due to this governments disproportionate budget cuts are looking to rationalise their estates. This has lead to many forces selling off buildings and moving into a centralised location. These new ways of working have seen more staff moving into open plan buildings with hot […]

Neighbourhood Policing – The Future?

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are the backbone of Neighbourhood Policing. Due to the abstraction of Neighbourhood Police Officers to support response teams and no longer carrying out any proactive work, this is placing the onus evermore on our overworked PCSO members. What is the future for Neighbourhood Policing? Since this coalition government came to […]