Tackling Health Inequalities and Closing the Life Expectancy Gap

Conference notes that health inequalities in the UK, that were already unacceptably large, have intensified in recent years. Conference notes that one of the most measurable demonstration of such inequalities is the “social gradient in health” which outlines differences in life expectancy for different groups of people. For example, women living in the least-deprived 10 […]

Integrated Care Systems

Conference notes that the government’s new Health and Social Care Act introduced Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) into 42 areas of England, which became fully operational in July 2022. Under the act, former Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) have been absorbed into the ICSs – specifically into their boards (ICBs). Each ICB will take on the commissioning […]

Radical Change in Social Care in Wales Can Influence the Whole of the UK

Conference welcomes the good work UNISON is leading in Wales in partnership with the Welsh government and other unions to address the long term crisis in social care and recognises developments here have enormous potential to influence how care is delivered across the UK. UNISON’s campaigning resulted in Wales TUC and Welsh Labour’s adoption of […]

Defend the Right to Strike

Conference is alarmed at the new Strikes (Minimum Services Levels) Bill for Great Britain which further attacks the right to strike and with draw your labour in this country. Conference believes that the right to strike is a fundamental human right and needs to be exercised now to win better wages and conditions in the […]

Organising to Win – Building Workplace Power through Participation

Conference notes that following a period of membership decline in early 2021, UNISON fought back in the latter half of 2022 to achieve net membership growth. Record recruitment of over 180,000 new members was 30 percent above 2021 levels and exceeded even the highest surges of joiners during the 2020 Covid pandemic peak. Membership growth […]

A Vision for a National Care Service

Conference recognises the need for change in social care. The current system values neither staff or service users. It creates a low paid workforce and fails to recognise the skills required for the high quality social care that our most vulnerable citizens deserve. The current system across the UK enables and promotes a market approach […]

Abolish Workers being charged for their DBS check

This conference believes that we need to stop the regressive practice of some organisations in the Community and Voluntary sector charging their new employees to get their Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) done. In the midst of a cost of living crisis which is impacting the working of people the hardest, this conference motion contends […]

Income: £99.30 a week – the reality of sick pay in social care

Conference, it cannot be right, that employees within social care with increasing rent/mortgage payments, fuel, food and utilities, can be left when they fall ill on £100 a week. This is totally unacceptable. Everyone in this room will know someone working in the social care sector, that has fallen ill and has reached crisis point […]

Women in community jobs and the cost of living crisis

Conference notes that more than 82,000 UNISON members work in the community and voluntary sector. Many of them are women and a significant number work in social care, where women outnumber men four to one. Generally, women tend to have lower paid jobs and fewer hours than men. Also, there are three times as many […]

Sick pay in social care

Conference last year resolved to campaign on sick pay, noting that many workers in our sectors receive only statutory sick pay. That means they receive hopelessly inadequate pay when sick, and nothing at all for the first three days of any sickness absence. Workers are forced to choose between going into work sick and feeding […]

Charity Sector Pay

Conference notes the publication of the Law Family Commission on Civil Society study, carried out by Pro Bono Economics in August 2022 entitled “The price of purpose? Pay gaps in the charity sector” which identifies that charity staff in the UK are paid 7% less per hour on average than workers in other sectors and […]

Young Members in Community

Conference notes that UNISON membership is in decline and the current average age of a UNISON rep is over 50; In many Community workplaces, young workers are less likely to join a trade union, and those who do join are less likely to develop as an active member; An increasing number of young people are […]

The cost living crisis on Ethnic Minority

The cost of living crisis on Ethnic Minority The cost of living crisis in the UK is disproportionality impacting on ethnic minority women workers, many of whom are part time workers. Black employees could see the hardest hit to their wage as inflation rates in the UK continue to surge. A report by the Womens […]

Workplace Policies on Sexual Harassment

Conference notes that a number of motions were passed at National Delegate Conference in 2022 on Violence Against Women. Too many public bodies are moving towards having an all encompassing fair treatment at work policy rather than individual polices focusing on specific issues like sexual harassment, racial discrimination etc. where the voices of marginalised groups […]

Cost of Living Crisis-Maternity Leave

The cost of living crisis is affecting everyone, with the inflation rate, hitting 10% last month, the highest levels in 40 years. The energy prices have rocketed and daily household expenses have also increased but wages are just rising by a maximum of just 5.2% (according to the Office for Budget Responsibility), with benefits increasing […]