Police Reform and Force Mergers

Conference notes with massive concern the continued savage cuts of public expenditure to Scottish policing as a result of the Scottish Government’s dogmatic pursuit of its artificial manifesto pledge of an additional 1000 Police Officers as well as the brutal unachievable savings they trumpet will be made of £1.5 billion in 15 years. This political […]

Ageing Well in UNISON

Conference recognises that one of the factors to account for the growth of UNISON’s Retired Members’ Organisation is growing longevity. While this mainly consists of existing members growing older there are also instances of former members taking up retired membership many years after they left work. Conference asserts that longevity is an asset not a […]

CARE HOME STAFF

Conference notes with concern that the conditions of service of Care Staff is a real scandal and as a result the frail, elderly people are not receiving the level of service they should. A study by Baroness Kingsmill has stated that frail elderly people are being exposed to neglect and abuse because caring and compassionate […]

Communications

The National Retired Members’ Committee continues to work to ensure that the UNISON website serves as an efficient means of communicating with over 166,000 Retired members. It is vital that members are provided with information about campaigns that they can get involved with and the activities being undertaken by UNISON. Conference notes that since the […]

Hands off Universal Benefits

Conference opposes any attempts by Governments across the UK to cut universal benefits for older people such as the winter fuel payment, free bus pass, free prescriptions and free TV licences. These benefits are essential to ensuring a decent standard of living and social inclusion for millions of pensioners who face daily poverty, fuel poverty […]

Threat to the Bus Pass and Universal Benefits

Conference is very concerned that the concessionary bus pass for pensioners is being attacked and no political party has stated that it will be retained after the 2015 election. Withdrawing the bus pass from pensioners will need another Act of Parliament (original Transport Act 2008) but that won’t stop this Government or any other one […]

Winter Fuel Allowance: Time for an Increase

Conference is very concerned that the Winter Fuel Allowance payments were included in the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne’s Budget statement on 19 March 2014, when he stated that benefits will be capped in 2015/16. The statistic (National Pensioners Convention) for the 2013/14 winter is that 31,000 pensioners died of cold-related diseases. The United […]