Post Incident Procedures

Conference notes that the Service Group arranged, last year, a workshop facilitated by Thompson’s Solicitors at Conference at Brighton to discuss Post Incident Procedures (PIP). This recognised the significant impact and increasing number of instances where Police Staff are involved and/or affected by these procedures in the immediate aftermath of a serious incident and in […]

Transfer of Police Staff from Wiltshire Police to Wiltshire Council and other Strategic Partners.

At conference in 2013 you will recall a motion was passed highlighting a situation that was developing in Wiltshire Police regarding the transfer of Police Staff to Wiltshire Council. Conference will remember that the proposal was to transfer staff from the following departments of Wiltshire Police; Project Management, Information Services & Technology, Estates, Finance, Legal […]

Privatisation of Police & Probation Services

This Government and likely future Governments agendas for shrinking the State and privatising Police and Probation services is resulting in our members being employed by private companies. The effect of this is the fragmentation of UNISON branches in the Police & Justice sector which will make it increasingly difficult to organise, support, recruit and retain […]

Privatisation of Probation Services

Conference expresses concern at the actions of the Secretary of State for Justice, in the preparation of the probation service for sale under the mantra of Public is Bad, Private is Good. This has: 1)Seen around 50% of a public service being transferred to a CRC (Community Rehabilitation Company) and ultimately the private sector which […]

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 […]

Police Performance and Statistics

The ‘Peelian principles’ describe the philosophy that Sir Robert Peel developed to define an ethical police force. This philosophy is commonly known as policing by consent. In the British model of policing, police officers are citizens in uniform. They exercise their powers to police their fellow citizens with the implicit consent of their fellow citizens. […]

Volunteer Community Support Officers

Conference is extremely concerned that Lincolnshire Police have introduced the first Volunteer Police Community Support Officers (VPCSOs) in the country. This is despite Lincolnshire Police losing 4.7% of their paid Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) during the period 2010 to 2013. Conference notes that Volunteers are not accountable to the public in the way paid […]

Launch a national challenge to Hunt’s divisive pay strategy

Conference notes that on 13 March 2014 Secretary of State Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt released the 28th Report of the NHS Pay Review Body and announced the Department of Health’s pay policy for NHS Staff in England from 1 April 2014. Subsequent announcements were made by Ministers in Scotland and Wales about the pay uplift […]

NMC Fees

Conference notes the decision taken by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) at its meetings on the 26th March 2014, to consult on a proposed fee increase of 20% from February 2015 Conference further notes that the NMC remains under special measures and is monitored more closely than other regulators following a damning report into […]

Mark Duggan Inquest

Mark Duggan a young Black man and father of 5 was shot dead by armed Officers in August 2011 in Tottenham, which sparked riots and large scale civil unrest across England. Following the inquest into his killing the jury found that Mark Duggan had thrown a gun from the vehicle he was travelling in just […]

LGBT Rights in India

Conference notes with alarming shock the ruling by India’s Supreme Court on December 11, 2013, that same-sex conduct between consenting adults remained a criminal offence. This is a setback for the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people. The court reversed a landmark 2009 Delhi High Court decision that a colonial-era law infringed […]

Nursing Workforce – Safe Minimum Staffing Levels

UNISON has long been concerned with inadequate staffing levels on hospital wards leading to compromised patient care. This was borne out in the Francis Inquiry and Keogh reports. The shortages of Registered Nursing Staff, appropriate skill mix and overall staffing levels to carry out the fundamental care of patients is now at crisis levels. Despite […]

Future Pay Determination in the NHS

Conference believes that since the election of the Tory-led coalition, the remit issued by the Government to the Pay Review Body (PRB) each year has been so restrictive as to remove any genuinely independent process from establishing NHS Pay. In effect each of the remits has purely asked the PRB to recommend how the Government’s […]

Zero Hours Contracts in the NHS

UNISON research into zero hours contracts shows that more than 40% of care workers are on these contracts. Activists are reporting that more employers are using zero hours contracts more widely across the NHS. This also includes operational service staff. Zero hours contracts are imbalanced and the employer reaps all the benefits. Members are asked […]

The Challenge of Recruiting and Organising in a fr

Our NHS is facing the biggest threats in its 65 year history. The impact of the Health and Social Care Act is being felt across all four countries and austerity measures, reorganisations, funding cuts and freezes that are being imposed by the Westminster Government has led to increasing fragmentation of health services. Since 2013 when […]