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
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 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 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 […]
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. […]
Conferences note with disappointment the omission of Regional representation at this conference by virtue of the constitution of the Police Staff Service Group. This omission only came to light in September 2006 after Regions had registered delegates. The P1 “Appointment of Delegates” Form, included a section for the registration of Regional Delegates and has been […]
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 […]
The South East Region Retired Members’ Committee strongly objects to the resolution passed at the National Delegate Conference 2006 apparently down grading retired members’ committees to the status of forums, without consultation with retired members at any level. Conference instructs the National Retired Members’ Committee to vigorously seek to regain the original status for retired […]
Police staff welcome the increased ‘civilianisation’ of roles in the Police Service that workforce modernisation has brought. Less welcome is the inequitable way appointments to these new posts are often handled. On too many occasions the successful ‘candidate’ for a newly civilianised post is the recently retired police officer who carried out that role, pre-retirement. […]
Conference is concerned at the sudden collapse of the Police Force restructuring process. UNISON Police Staff recognise that Home Office plans to address issues identified in “Closing the Gap” were ill-thought out and underfunded. Little consideration was given to the implications of our members future employment and terms and conditions. Forces have been asked to […]
Conference notes with great concern the lack of work done by the Service Group Executive, in campaigning at all levels within the Service, to retain the management and operation of Custody Suites in the Public Sector (Motion 15 Conference 2005) This Conference notes that with the collapse of the restructuring process of Police Forces in […]
This Conference calls upon the Police Service Group Executive to negotiate through the Police Staff Council a sickness policy that can be introduced in all Police Forces. The current sickness policies used by Police Forces are not deemed suitable or indeed fit for purpose by Police Forces. Most of the policies used by current Police […]
Conference notes with extreme concern the implications of the collapse of the police restructuring process in England and Wales. The collapse was caused by funding difficulties, which should have been resolved at a much earlier stage. This has led to confusion and insecurity for police staff members throughout England and Wales Conference believes that: 1)the […]
Conference notes the many initiatives which are underway in the Service under the heading of workforce modernisation. These can be broadly summed up as changes in the configuration of the workforce to produce more efficient and effective outcomes from the same resources. Examples include the recruitment of PCSOs, further civilianisation and the better use of […]