Ageism and Holiday Insurance

Conference is aware that as members become older it becomes increasingly difficult and in some cases impossible to obtain suitable travel insurance especially on an annual policy basis, at a reasonable price. Our own UIA no longer offers an annual policy to those over 65 years and will only offer individual trips at highly inflated […]

Council Tax Revaluation

Conference calls on the National Retired Members’ Committee and the National Executive Council to closely monitor and make suitable representations to government with regard to the present ongoing revaluation of homes – which will inevitably result in changes to the banding levels with a detrimental effect on the elderly who are on a fixed income […]

Social Worker Registration

Social workers are now required to register with the General Social Care Council in order to practice legally, and this registration has to be renewed every three years. In so doing they have to complete extensive registration documents that amongst other things ask personal questions within a medical declaration that includes disability status. When completing […]

The Social Model of Disability

Many UNISON disabled members that could potentially disadvantage them in the workplace do not identify their individual access requirements. The Disability Discrimination Act definition of a disabled person has recently been extended to define people with MS, HIV and cancer as disabled from a point of diagnosis. We welcome this legislative change as a signal […]

Facility Time

Conference welcomes the UNISON National project and campaign ‘A Time to Act’. This Conference is aware of certain inequities in the Police Service in the provision of time off for trade union duties and activities. Conference is aware of existing policy as enacted as a result of Motion 22 of the 2004 Conference namely ‘Union […]

Mandatory Testing for Substance Abuse

This Conference notes that mandatory testing for substance abuse has been introduced for all staff in the North Wales Police, with the intention of rolling it out to all other Police services in the future. This is an especially sensitive subject, requiring serious consultation arrangements. This Conference expresses its grave concern that such a procedure […]

Reimbursement of extra expense incurred as a result of attending court at short notice

Conference instructs the Service Group Executive to enter into negotiations at the Police Staff Council to reimburse the additional costs (i.e. childcare) incurred by Police Staff when attending court on behalf of the Police Authority at short notice.

Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill

This Conference welcomes the provision of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill which allows for the further expansion of Police Staff into more front line roles within the Police Service. However Conference is concerned that the provision of Police Staff in the role of designated custody officer could lead to the privatisation of custody […]

Facility Time and Shift workers

This Conference is concerned at the continued difficulties faced by UNISON activists who are shift workers. It is likely that shift workers bear the brunt of inadequate facility time because: 1) Police Staff work in posts where release is more difficult because of their involvement in direct emergency service delivery 2) Facilities agreements do not […]

Police Staff Discipline

Police employers approach discipline in a unique manner, it is often a mixture of criminal and employment procedures. Police Staff are often treated like criminals on occasion and suffer unnecessary distress as a result. Conference believes that Police Staff should be treated appropriately. Conference instructs the Service Group Executive to provide appropriate guidance, including legal […]

Pensionable Pay

Conference notes that the proposed 2008 Pension Regulations include an increase in employee contributions for many employees whilst also proposing pensionable pay to be based on basic pay only excluding bonuses and shift allowances. Conference instructs the Service Group Executive to: 1) Lobby Parliament to ensure that all gross pay elements will be pensionable. In […]

Completing the Picture – Raising the Profile of Non-Clinical NHS Staff

Conference welcomes the campaign ‘Completing the Picture’ which aims to raise the profile of clerical, administrative and managerial staff in the NHS. This campaign, organised by UNISON with the NHS Confederation, won the support of 116 MP’s who signed an Early Day Motion in October/November 2004. The campaign pack features real people doing real jobs, […]

Associate Mental Health Practitioner

This conference is becoming increasingly alarmed at the introduction of a new worker called the Associate Mental Health Practitioner (AMHP) within a large mental health trust in the South East of England. The AMHP was originally introduced in response to a shortage of registered mental health nurses in that particular geographical area but is now […]

Mental Health Services

This conference recognises that much of the current mental health legislation dates back to the 1950’s and that even the most recent amendments to the Mental Health Act in 1983 are now seriously out of date. Many improvements to mental health services, particularly over the last 5 years, have necessitated a root and branch review […]

Back Door Cuts in NHS Funding

Conference notes that ‘recycling’ money, annual ‘efficiency savings’, ‘top-slicing’ for different purposes, ‘brokerage’ and multiple announcements of the same pots of new money have long been features of Government funding of the NHS. Making sense of the direct funding of individual Trusts has become a nightmare, even before variable, activity-based funding and PFI contracts are […]