Mental Health – Equipping the Rep

Conference notes that mental health is an issue for lots of our members as employers fail to make reasonable adjustments to sickness absence policies or to disciplinary and performance management policies. Bullying and harassment of members with mental health problems also continues in our workplaces. As reps we often have to listen and be all […]

Campaigning for Mental Health First-Aiders in the Workplace

Conference, since 1981, workplaces have been required to provide adequate and appropriate first aid equipment, facilities and people, to ensure that employees can be given immediate help if they are injured or taken ill at work. Yet in 2018, there is still no requirement for employers to provide mental health first aid assistance to employees. […]

The privatisation experiment has failed….now what?

Conference will be aware that from the very beginnings of the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) experiment, we have warned against the dangers of introducing a privatised model into Probation delivery services. It is now absolutely clear that this model has failed and has resulted in a diminished service for both our service users and for our […]

Achieving pay equality for women in the police service

Conference welcomes the start of Part 2 of the Police Staff Council (PSC) Pay and Reward Review Part 2 which will look at how police staff basic pay is determined by forces in England and Wales and whether such arrangements remain fit for purpose. The review will look at job evaluation and pay and grading […]

Police Staff PSC Pay award 2017

Police staff have faced an exceptional delay in receiving their pay award from 2017. For many this has created additional hardship. Whilst it is recognised that the employers side of the Police Service Commission (PSC) may be in no hurry to finalise the annual pay award, the union needs to be doing everything in its […]

Formalising the link between UNISON and the LGBT police network

UNISON has always appreciated and worked with allies, whether individuals, or organisations, but most of these have been external to members’ places of work. The National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Police Network started from the Gay Police Association, and for over 30 years has worked with forces to encourage diversity and to fight […]

Failure of the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) Reforms

Conference notes that communities, service users and probation staff are all being put at risk because of the systemic failure of the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) reforms. Conference further notes the reports over the last 24 months by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP), and the experience of our members who work for the Community Rehabilitation […]

Recruiting and representing disabled members in the Police and Justice Service Group

Conference notes that recruiting new members is a priority for UNISON. Increasing our density in the Police and Justice Service Group will increase our bargaining power with management and help us get the best deal for our members at the negotiating table. Challenges in the Police and Justice Service Group, such as threats of redundancy, […]

The Need for Pay Reform in Police and Probation

Conference notes that work has begun in both the police and probation sectors to examine the case for pay reform. Conference welcomes this work, because many police force pay and grading systems, and the sector wide pay and grading system for both the National Probation Service and the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies, have not been […]

The Future for Probation After Transforming Rehabilitation

Conference recognises that the government’s Transforming Rehabilitation reforms to the Probation Service have failed and that plans need to be put in place now to design a local, sustainable and democratically accountable service going forward. Conference notes successive reports over the course of 2017/18 by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation, the Public Accounts Committee, the […]

THE LAMMY REVIEW

This conference welcomes the report and publication of ‘The Lammy Review’. An independent review into the treatment of, and outcome for Black people in the criminal justice system. The eradication of discrimination in the criminal justice system is enshrined in UK legislation. However, since the introduction of the Equality Act 2010, report after report has […]

Feeling Vulnerable

Working conditions in the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) have brought their problems. Service users are quite often let in to the building without the ability to identify who they are, who they are with, or, to subject them to any level of scrutiny. Reception areas are quite often open with little waiting space, offering little […]

Enough is Enough

Staff working in the Probation service, both within the Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) and the National Probation Service (NPS) have had a rough ride over the last ten years with regards their pay. The last time they had an actual pay rise was back in 2009 where they got the paltry amount of 1%, probably […]

Disability History Month

This conference believes that our National Disabled Members’ Committee and UNISON should celebrate Disability History Month on an annual basis. Disability history month was set up in 2010 to provide a platform to focus on the work that has been done to fight for equality for disabled people. Each year the month has a theme […]

Members delivering services for private contractors within policing

A number of our members have been transferred to the private sector as part of TUPE transfers. These members are feeling as though they no longer fit into the wider organisation of the service group. It is essential that branches continue to offer the support necessary and to maintain a profile with the new employers. […]