Dental Care

This Conference recognises that older people find it difficult to afford the cost of National Health Service (NHS) dental care. Regular dental checks can detect other more serious medical conditions, such as oral cancer and heart disease, and, as such, act as preventative health screening. Conference, therefore, calls upon the National Retired Members’ Committee to […]

Remember Enhanced Voluntary Redundancy (EVR) and Other Broken Promises?

During Transforming Rehabilitation (TR1) UNISON worked extremely hard to protect staff during the split and staff transfer. We managed to secure a staff transfer agreement to ensure additional protections to the staff transfer scheme and an Enhanced Voluntary Redundancy scheme to remunerate staff who were asked to leave the Probation Service. We are now facing […]

Shame on YOU, End Low Pay in Probation NOW

When it comes to low pay, the Private Sector Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) have put the Civil Service to shame. The vast majority of CRCs have abolished Band 1. They have got rid of a pay scale that would have paid staff less than the minimum wage. The National Probation Service (NPS) on the other […]

Facility Time Shambles

Effective organisation. Effective representation and effective negotiation can only take place when we have effective trade union facility time agreements. We have again seen the Private Sector Probation Services put the National Probation Service (NPS) to shame, with their facility time agreements and their negotiating structures. The NPS are fettered by Cabinet Office Guidelines on […]

Maintaining the pressure on sexual harassment

Conference commends the Service Group Executive (SGE) for its successful campaign on eliminating Sexual Harassment in policing. Working in partnership with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), the union has been able to establish strict guidelines and standards for the police service. As with most things, there is often a flurry of activity and interest […]

How many bites of the cherry?

Police Staff are probably under the most stringent scrutiny and procedural process than any other employees. At present we can be subject to a criminal investigation, an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation, a misconduct procedure and vetting all at the same time. If an employee is acquitted through criminal process, they will usually […]

Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) Investigations

IOPC investigations continue to be an area of concern to our members. Very often the involvement in these investigations is a cause of great anxiety. Members are always concerned and worried about the potential outcomes of such investigations which is often the cause of the anxiety. Reassurance is of vital importance to members who are […]

Dealing with the effects of post-traumatic stress

Many of our members work with the public in the best and worst of situations. Our call management staff can be dealing with a missing from home one minute and a murder the next. Very often our call management staff are the first port of call for those intending to complete a suicide and the […]

Race Religion and Belief a new strategy

There is now more than ever a need for our service group to refresh its strategy on Race Religion and Belief. The representation of BAME members in branches, regions and national bodies is woefully poor. UNISON operates a system of self-organised groups for Women, Black members, Disabled members and LGBT members. This system is well […]

Misconduct Interviews

Police Staff who are subject to a misconduct investigations will be interviewed by Professional Standards Department (PSD) as part of the investigation. These interviews are often undertaken by detectives who are serving police officers and will be very similar if not the same as a criminal interview. These interviews will often be recorded and later […]

Routine NHS Health Checks for Older Persons “Prevention is better than Cure”

Conference acknowledges that early identification and diagnosis of a range of health conditions e.g. heart and lung problems, diabetes, kidney disease and early cancers can have a significant impact and increase the chance of success of subsequent treatments. Health professionals widely agree that early diagnosis of many conditions can be of major personal health benefit […]

Rule D Young Members’ Organisation

Insert a new rule after D 6.2.4: “D 6.2.5 The National Young Members Forum may establish a national conference of young members from branch and regional groups.”

EU Exit and Protecting the Peace Process

Conference notes that at the time of writing, the UK is still set to leave the EU on 29 March but that the terms of its exit and whether it will exit at all remains very unclear. Conference believes that regardless of whether the UK has left the EU on 29 March under the terms […]

Young Member’s Facility Time

Facility time is a fundamental right of trade unionists in the workplace. It ensures we support our members at disciplinaries, and that policies of the organisation’s our members work for are scrutinised and negotiated effectively. UNISON already provides brilliant resources for our branches such as the ‘Facility Time, Guidance for branches’ document most recently revised […]

Feeling Good in the WET Service Group

Conference welcomes the fact that more conversations are being held around the issues of mental health, however, for many it is still a taboo subject and for others a painful subject. This however does not stop the effect it has on people, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, beliefs. Mental health does not discriminate and […]