Young member recruitment and organisation

This Conference notes the organising efforts of branches to increase membership and density, despite challenging climate of reducing staff numbers across all Police Forces, Probation Trusts and CAFCASS. Conference notes the aging demographic profile of UNISON membership makes it essential to recruit more young workers. i)Conference calls on the Police & Justice Service Group Executive […]

Winsor Review

Tom Winsor has now published both parts of his review into Police Officer and Police Staff Remuneration. Part 1 recommendations were all about cuts and changes to police staff terms and conditions to the detriment of our members. There was nothing positive offered in exchange for the cuts and changes, there was a vague mention […]

Police and Crime Commissioners

On 15th November, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) will be elected across England and Wales and each will replace the respective Police Authority that is currently in place for their force area. PCC will have responsibility for the full budget of their respective force, including where and how the budget is spent in relation to […]

Pensions

Conference notes the final offer on the NHS Pension Scheme for England and Wales was published on 9 March 2012. UNISON members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are currently being balloted on the offer with full information on what it will mean for them and the consequences of rejection. Conference deplores the decision of […]

Stephen Lawrence

Conference notes that on 3 January 2012, Stephen Lawrence and his parents finally received some justice, when Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty of his racist murder. Stephen Lawrence born on 13 September 1974, murdered by 5 white youths on 22 April 1993 just because he was Black – young and gifted. For […]

COMP A – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Parenting Rights And Equalirty For Adoptive Parents

Conference notes the advances in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality over recent years that have given LGBT people more options and choice of becoming a parent, whether it be as a single LGBT person or as a same sex couple. However there are still many LGBT people who are already parents or who […]

Workforce Reprofiling: Downbanding by another name

Conference is concerned at reports that some NHS Trusts are undertaking mass downbanding of staff to save costs, often under the pretext of skill mix reviews or other service redesign. While it is understandable that from time to time service redesign will be appropriate, this should only be driven by quality improvement and not solely […]

COMP C – Equal Marriage

Three in five people of faith in Britain support equal marriage! Stonewall’s five yearly polling of public attitudes shows that more that 80% of British adults under fifty now support the proposal. Civil partnerships are not enough, and as such treat us differently from everyone else. This is discrimination. You should not have to tick […]

Health and Social Care Bill

Conference reaffirms its complete opposition to the Government’s Health and Social Care Bill. Conference believes that the Bill is the biggest threat to the English NHS in its 64 year history. Despite minor changes made by the so-called “listening exercise”, the fundamental dangers of privatisation, fragmentation, instability and inequity remain. The Bill will turn the […]

Safe Staffing Levels and Patient Ratios

UNISON Health conference expresses serious concern about employers’ attempts to dilute skill mix and staffing levels as part of cost-cutting within the NHS and the impact which this can have on patient safety. We note a huge amount of variability in workforce planning, together with scientific evidence demonstrating the value of appropriate skill mixes to […]

Partnership Working Under Pressure

Conference notes the acute challenges our members face in the current climate of radical structural reforms (in England), budgetary constraints and efficiency savings targets, all of which are taking a serious toll on the NHS workforce. Employers under pressure to reduce costs are looking at every conceivable way to save money. Increasing numbers are tampering […]

Police and Crime Commissioners

Conference recognises that the election of Police and Crime Commissioners in November this year will fundamentally change the landscape of policing and potentially a wide range of other justice services in the future. UNISON was opposed to the concept of Police and Crime Commissioners, because we did not believe that a single elected politician could […]

Stop Privitisation

West Midlands and Surrey Police under guidance from the Home Office have advertised £1.5 billion contracts to run Police Services in both forces. The contracts could lead to the privatisation of crime investigation, forensics, 999 call handling, custody and detention and a wide range of police support services. Most other forces in England and Wales […]

Defend the Knowledge and Skills Framework and promote the Equality Agenda

Conference notes that the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) has had a turbulent integration within the NHS. There have been widespread variations regarding the success of the KSF across NHS employers. Conference remains committed to the belief that KSF is an in invaluable tool in the NHS and used properly it is a method of […]

COMP D – History of Pride

Conference commends the work of the national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) committee with regards to raising awareness across this union of issues affecting LGBT members. It is now the norm for UNISON regional groups to have a high profile at the many Pride events up and down the country with many of our […]