Conference regrets that in his March 2007 budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, again failed to increase the basic state pension to restore its value if the link to average earnings had not been broken by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government. Pensioners should have an immediate rise now to restore the pension value and […]
Conference motions
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, in his March 2006 budget, totally ignored the needs of pensioners coping with higher fuel bills. Fuel poverty is described as being when a household spends at least 10 percent of its income on fuel costs. The fuel allowance, which has remained at £200 since 2003, was not […]
Once again, this vital issue is being raised at this Conference. Pensioners across the country are now facing yet again massive increases in utility bills. The increases in occupational and Government pensions do not meet the increases imposed by the utilities. This Conference instructs the National Retired Members Committee and calls on the National Executive […]
In view of the fact that the rights of elderly people in private rest homes are not covered by the Human Rights Act, Conference urges the National Retired Members’ Committee to take note of recent well documented cases of abuse of elderly people in these institutions and to campaign for the section of the Human […]
Conference believes that council tax is an inherently unfair tax which does not properly reflect people’s ability to pay. More importantly it is not based on an equitable system for calculating amounts that should be paid. This is most clearly demonstrated by the current system of council tax collection, which specifically affects pensioners who pay […]
Conference recognises the different role and contribution of retired members to their working counterparts and accepts that their involvement in UNISON is more limited. However, Conference believes that many retired members still have much to offer the union and that their preclusion from almost all aspects of its work is not necessarily in UNISON’s best […]
Conference notes the Government’s latest interference with the National Health Service (NHS) So far, two insert “CATS (Clinical Assessment, Treatment and Support Services) have been agreed in Lancashire, both in the same NHS Foundation Trust, which covers two hospitals. One is to be provided by a South African company and sited near to one of […]
Conference notes that pensioners who are sent to hospital long distances from their homes are being denied hospital transport. Large parts of the country have no direct public transport to hospitals, forcing some pensioners to pay as much as £100 return taxi fare to attend a hospital appointment. Even pensioners needing chemotherapy treatment for cancer […]
Conference condemns the decision to remove the entitlement to concessions for pensioners attending day and evening classes other than for those in receipt of pensions credit. For many decades all pensioners could access day and evening classes either free or at a nominal cost. This allowed many people who had not previously had access to […]
Conference calls upon the National Executive Council and the National Retired Members’ Committee to pressurise local authorities to stop the closure of public conveniences, as this particularly affects the older people and the disabled. Provision of toilets should be a statutory requirement for local authorities.
National Retired Members Conference is to be congratulated on producing the Annual Report for questioning by members in advance of the National Retired Members Conference. However, the time scale for questioning in 2006 was inadequate. There does not appear to be any reason why the Annual Report is not circulated to retired members in June. […]
Conference notes with despair the continuing outsourcing of local authority services. Many of the services have a direct effect upon retired members. The latest services currently being targeted for privatisation is homecare. Retired citizens are the major users of this service. Conference therefore , whilst congratulating UNISON on its Save Our Homecare Services Campaign which […]
Conference is totally opposed to the present situation in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals where pensioners, those persons over 60, are required to pay a daily subscription to enjoy television whilst a patient in a NHS hospital. We are aware that all patients have to subscribe but this is totally unfair to pensioners on fixed […]
Conference notes that Ministers have announced that the Department for Work and Pensions will not extend the contract for the Post Office card account beyond 2010 despite the fact that 2.3 million pensioners use the card as a way of collecting their state pension. When the Government ended the use of pension books in 2003, […]
Conference notes that on May 25th 2006 the Government published a Pensions White Paper setting out how it planned to implement the recommendations of the Turner Report. The White Paper contains some positive proposals intended to increase the value of the state pension in the light of the decline of many occupational pensions and include […]