The Youth Work Profession

Conference notes that youth services play a crucial role across the UK, and the work youth workers and youth support workers do provides huge value to the lives of the people they engage with. Youth services help young people into employment, training or education; they help with potential mental health issues; and they help prevent […]

Mental Health support for our members

One in four people in the UK will have a mental health problem at some point. While mental health problems are common, most are mild, tend to be short-term and are normally successfully treated. Mental health is about how we think, feel and behave. Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health problems. They […]

Building and Strengthening Black Community links

Conference notes the national Black members’ committee ‘Creating, Building, and Strengthening Black Community link motion was debated with much support from other delegates at the 2018 Community conference and was carried along with the amendment submitted by the Community Service Group Executive. However the National Black Member’s Committee is concerned that limited work has commenced […]

Alexa, Did you take our Jobs? The Rising Threat of Automation and Computerisation in the Housing Sector

Conference notes the rising number of business reports and academic research regarding automation and computerisation across the whole economy over the last five years. From Frey & Osbourne’s alarmist 2013 “The Future of Employment”, claiming 47% of jobs in the USA were at risk of automation to Ford’s seminal “the Rise of The Robots” in […]

The Effects on staff going through the Menopause

In the Community & Voluntary Sector which includes care provision, charities, not for profit organisations and housing associations, women make up nearly half of the workforce and with the increasing numbers of older workers many well be either be currently experiencing the menopause or will have worked through it. Around eight in ten women report […]

Standing Up for Fair Pay for CVS Workers in Commissioned Services

Community conference welcomes the recent nationally negotiated pay deals for Local Government and the NHS giving many public service workers deserved pay rises. However, many members in the Community and Voluntary Sector (CVS) work for employers who are held in long-term contracts with the public sector, with no annual or inflationary uplifts built into those […]

Black Disabled Workers’ Professional Development and Activism

Conference notes that racism in the workplace persists and that Black workers are less likely to access professional development and training. They are also less likely to win promotion as a result, and consequently Black workers are often over-represented in lower paid grades, affecting workforce diversity patterns. Where a worker is also disabled this discrimination […]

Tackling LGBT and disability discrimination in the workplace – an Intersectional approach

Conference notes that disabled people face many challenges in the workplace but this is compounded when disabled workers are also lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). The recent Stonewall publication ‘LGBT in Britain – Work Report’ found: • Disabled LGBT workers are one and a half times more likely to face harassment and discrimination in […]

Improving Access to Sexual Health Information for Disabled LGBT People

Conference notes that Deaf and disabled Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) people may experience barriers in accessing essential sexual health services due to lack of appropriate communication and understanding from service providers. Problems include lack of BSL interpreters and electronic notetakers and test results not being communicated in ways that can be understood. Some […]

Support for disabled people who find it difficult/impossible to fill in (online) forms

The application processes on which we rely are rapidly moving to online platforms. For example, applications for Council Tax support, housing benefit, access to work, and Universal Credit. Conversely, Personal Independence Payments (PIP) can only be applied for using a paper form, with no online option available. Some disabled people use assistive technology, which is […]

Disability Leave

Disability leave is time off from work for a reason related to someone’s disability. Employees with a disability may require time off if their mobility, or their illness – relating to their disability, becomes more severe. Our disabled members in this situation are frequently treated unfavourably and this then becomes inequality, even though the Equality […]

Securing reasonable adjustments for young disabled workers

Conference notes that securing reasonable adjustments in the workplace is a challenge faced by many disabled workers. However young disabled workers in particular all too often do not have the tools, experience or job security to request the reasonable adjustments they are legally entitled to at work. This may be due to various factors, including: […]

Mate Crime

Conference we have heard about hate crimes, however mate crime is not as widely publicised or known about. Mate crimes are usually committed against another for the purpose of some individual gain. Usually financial gain. It is well known that most people with disabilities have a greater level of vulnerability and where they are also […]

The Increasing Practice of Hot-Desking and the Impact on our Disabled Members

Conference is concerned about the increasing use of hot-desking. Employer sell the practice as a way of saving money, at a time when they know saving jobs is at the top of our agenda, with little or no consideration of the impact on staff. However, there are obvious and significant issues with hot-desking that are […]

Access to voting

Conference is concerned that it is becoming increasingly difficult for disabled people to participate in the election process. While disabled people have always needed to overcome barriers to be able to vote the government seems determined to make it virtually impossible. The Conservative government’s changes to the voter registration system, including individual voter registration, and […]