Cochlear Implants

UNISON’s policy has long established the union’s support for the Social Model of Disability. The National Disabled Members Committee (NDMC) has been instrumental in advising the Union about how to promote the rehabilitation of the environment and eliminate other barriers that deny disabled people civil rights rather than promote the rehabilitation of the disabled person […]

The Social Model of Disability

This Conference expresses its deep concern that the Social Model of Disability has been publicly criticised by Disability Rights Commissioner, Colin Low, who claimed that it contains important “truths” but also a significant amount of falsehood that “distorts reality in ways which are potentially damaging to disabled people”. Conference notes that over the past three […]

Pensions

This Conference supports wholeheartedly Composite E which was carried at the 2002 UNISON National Delegate Conference. This Conference notes that we all rely on the pension earned during employment to provide a reasonable standard of living in retirement and financial protection for our families and partners in the event of death or ill health. This […]

Ending of Age Discrimination

This Conference notes that the Government has taken a piecemeal approach to the enactment of anti-discriminatory law in the United Kingdom. In particular, the Government does not apparently intend to address the question of age discrimination in the provision of goods and services set out in a European Directive until 2006 at the earliest. The […]

Improvements in Communications

This Conference believes that existing means of communications between UNISON at a national level and branch retired members’ groups are practically non-existent. Conference strongly urges the National Retired Members’ Committee to take urgent remedial action to improve this situation. In particular, Conference requests that some form of regular publications such as the National Retired Members’ […]

Ending of Tax Penalty on Pensioners

This Conference is concerned that nearly a million pensioners are being penalised on tax free allowances because of restrictions imposed by the Government. Such age allowance restrictions penalise modest savings and punish those who have worked to earn a decent pension. Conference requests the National Executive Council to raise this matter with the Government and […]

Violent Attacks

Conference agrees that violent attacks on the elderly and people with a disability is now an every day occurrence, because the sentence for the crime is light and ludicrous. Conference requests the National Executive Council to give full support to the campaign that seeks from this Labour Government a statutory additional penalty against anyone who […]

Proposed Changes in Benefit Payment System 2003

During 2003, no exact date at present, the Benefits Agency is proposing to cease the payment of all state benefits, including benefits to pensioners, via the present weekly order book system. Instead, they intend to make payments to clients on a four week basis, direct into a bank account, thus removing yet another freedom of […]

Care Home Closures

This Conference condemns the fact that 700 long term care homes in England and Wales were closed during 2001 due to repeated loss of government funding. This Conference requests the National Executive Council, Affiliated Political Fund and other appropriate organisations to use their good offices with the current government to seek to reverse this trend […]

Discrimination

This Conference recognises the legal requirements of sex discrimination and race discrimination. It also recognises that age discrimination is used but is not illegal. This Conference demands that age discrimination is made illegal and instructs the National Retired Members’ Committee to make all representations through the National Executive Council, Affiliated Political Fund and other appropriate […]

Care Homes

This Conference calls upon the National Executive Council, Service Groups and Affiliated Political Fund to make representations to the Government to keep open local authority residential homes by any means possible, as care in the community is often inadequate for the needs of the recipients. This Conference deplores the fact that many people in residential […]