FRONT LINE WORKERS – WELLBEING

Conference notes that many members working in front line roles are regularly exposed to traumatic working conditions. Members who are in roles that are exposed to new or additional trauma may therefore have a higher risk of mental health problems such as depression and anxiety and possibly Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which could result in […]

YEAR OF BLACK WORKERS – SECURING ITS LEGACY IN THE RETIRED MEMBERS’ ORGANISATION

Conference notes that 2023 has been the Year of Black Workers and its focus has been ‘Establishing legacy to generate change’. This year is not, itself, the change we seek. It is the opportunity to generate change. Black workers often find themselves in low-paid, insecure work with poor terms and conditions. Besides immediate effects, this […]

GP and Pharmacy Services

Conference notes with concern the Government’s pressure for people to consult pharmacists in the first instance rather than their GP surgery. This is the result of its continuing underfunding of the NHS and, in particular, general practice surgeries, with a large deficit of fully trained GPs. This is at a time when pharmacies across all […]

Maximising the Support of Retired Members

Conference notes that, as well as campaigning on issues that relate directly to retired members, we have the potential and a responsibility to support the campaigns of working members. This is not new but is now more important than ever in the current period of intense struggle against a government and employers who are intent […]

Support Campaign for pain-free Hysteroscopies

This conference notes the campaign by the Campaign Against Painful Hysteroscopy (CAPH) to end the barbaric practice Hysteroscopies being carried out in the NHS with inadequate or no offer of pain relief. As the CAPH point out, unlike NHS Colonoscopy or Gastroscopy procedures, women undergoing Hysteroscopy are NOT offered a safely monitored conscious sedation. The […]

Stop rise in State Pension age

Conference notes the widespread opposition to the plan by President Macron to increase the State Retirement Age in France from 62 to 64 may well have been a factor in the decision by the UK Government to delay making a decision on the rise in the State Pension Age to 68, with reports that ministers […]

SECURING THE LEGACY OF THE YEAR OF BLACK WORKERS IN POLICE AND JUSTICE TO CUT CRIME, NOT POLICE STAFF

This conference notes that whilst 2023 is the Year of Black Workers, and its focus of ‘Establishing Legacy to Generate Change’, this year in and of itself is not the change we seek, it is merely the opportunity to generate change. Black Workers up and down our society often find themselves in low-paid, insecure work, […]

TACKLING POOR MENTAL HEALTH OF POLICE AND JUSTICE WORKERS

Conference notes with concern the evidence of the last few years that has shown an increase in poor mental health in workers across public services, including in police and justice workplaces. This was significantly exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic which saw people cut off from family, friends, and support networks. On top of this was […]

NEGOTIATE FOR A TWO WEEK DEADLINE FOR REASONABLE ADJUSTMENT REQUESTS NOW!

Conference notes that even in 2023 disabled workers in police and justice still aren’t getting the adjustments they need to allow them to do their job to the best of their ability and without exacerbating their impairments. UNISON surveys have consistently found that the majority of disabled workers across public services, including in the police […]

THE JEWEL IN THE PROBATION CROWN

Unpaid Work is the most visible and public facing element of the Probation Service. First introduced as a sentencing option to the judiciary in 1973, it soon became popular as way of offering both punishment, rehabilitation and restoration to the community, it outperforms prison sentences when comparing re-offending rates and despite some dubious interventions from […]

AGENCY STAFF CONTRACT REFORMS

Evidence has emerged that the Probation Service has spent and continues to spend millions of pounds on agency staff. Whilst it is acknowledged that agency staff are an asset that is vital in managing the work of the service, it is noted that a significant proportion of the money spent on their employment is taken […]

ONE (HMPPS) HIS MAJESTYS PRISON AND PROBATION SERVICE – ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Conference notes with concern the direction of travel of the latest proposals around Accredited Programmes in the Probation Service. The primary driver for this latest change project, known as the Next Generation, appears to be rooted in cost savings and in tacking the inefficiencies of programme delivery within the Prison system. The rationale for imposing […]

REPEAL THE OFFENDER REHABILITATION ACT 2014

Conference notes that: 1)The Offender Rehabilitation Act (ORA) 2014 is the Act of Parliament that accompanied the Transforming Rehabilitation (TR) programme. The Act made changes to the sentencing and releasing framework to extend probation supervision after release to offenders serving short term sentences. It was also supposed to create greater flexibility in the delivery of […]

END PROBATION WORKLOADS CRISIS NOW

Conference notes with concern that the Probation Service is now affected by an on-going workloads crisis and that the following problems continue to negatively affect our members’ health, safety and welfare, such as: 1)Probation is full. Caseloads continue to rise inexorably. There are large backlogs in unpaid work orders. Unlike the Prison Service, which in […]

UNPAID WORK LEFT BEHIND

Unpaid Work, Community Service, Community Pay Back, whatever people call it, everyone knows what is meant by it. Unpaid Work is the most visible, public facing, community interactive element of the Probation Service. First introduced as a sentencing option to the judiciary in 1973, it soon became popular as way of offering both punishment, rehabilitation […]