Violence at work

This conference notes that there is widespread under reporting of violence in the workplace and believes that in many social care workplaces it is wrongly accepted as part of the job. Commissioners are cutting funding, and placing service users with high needs in homes designed for those with lower needs. This particularly affects services provided […]

Funding of Social Care in Community

The social care sector plays a vital role in Community. Not only are there over 320,000 workers employed in social care within the charity sector, but many more are employed by housing associations. Therefore the crisis in social care funding has a particularly far reaching and negative impact on members within Community. This substantial reduction […]

Good Care Costs

Disabled members of the community service group are particularly concerned that in August 2015 five of the biggest care providers wrote to the Chancellor stating that the National Living Wage could result in a “catastrophic collapse” in the number of care homes. UNISON believes that the living wage (set by the independent Living Wage Foundation) […]

Preserve our terms and conditions

Conference, we are experiencing many attacks to our funding in the housing association sector with the 1% cut to rents and the right to buy. Where are housing associations going to make the cuts to balance their books? We know from our experience elsewhere it will be the usual response by employers to cut terms […]

Living Wage

Conference notes the success of Living Wage Campaigns across the UK in exposing low pay in the community sector and putting poverty pay on the political and bargaining agenda. Conference also notes the success of UNISON legal service in forcing community sector employers to comply with National Minimum Wage rules on sleepovers, travel time and […]

Violence at Work

This Conference notes the sterling work done by UNISON Scotland in: • surveying violence at work over a twelve year period • campaigning for Zero Tolerance of all workplace assaults; and, • securing the Emergency Workers (Scotland) act 2005 which gives key public sector workers added legal protection Conference notes that this detailed recording of […]

Fair treatment for workers in the community and voluntary sector

Conference notes with concern the growth of poor working practices in the community and voluntary sector. Increasingly the sector is providing support for those who the statutory agencies are unable to help, or where there is no government/local authority priority or duty to provide care. However, cuts in funding – both from government sources and […]

Low pay in the community sector

Conference notes with concern that cuts to local authority budgets are impacting on the salaries of our members in the community sector. This is particularly a problem in the care sector, where the majority of employees are low paid women. There is evidence that, in some cases, the terms offered by commissioners are so low […]