The letter to Sir Keir, signed by Andrea and staff on health and social care visas affected by the proposals, emphasises the “vital, sensitive and demanding work” they carry out each day.

They call on the PM to halt plans that would make care workers wait 15 years to qualify to settle in the UK, instead of the current five years.

Media contacts:
Fatima Ayad M: 07508 080383 E: f.ayad@unison.co.uk
Dan Ashley M: 07508 080349 E: d.ashley@unison.co.uk
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk
Mark Conrad M: 07809 623703 E: m.conrad@unison.co.uk

The post Visa rethink is only way to avoid deepening staff crisis in social care appeared first on UNISON National.

Today I joined UNISON members in Downing Street to discuss one of the issues our union has been campaigning on for years: the cost of using your own vehicle to do your job.

Members travelled from every corner of the UK, from Norwich to Cornwall to Glasgow, to meet Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Dan Tomlinson MP, the Exchequer Secretary, and share their experiences directly. The stories they told were powerful, and for the politicians listening, impossible to ignore.

For too long, public service workers have effectively subsidised their employers simply by turning up to work. Rates have remained unchanged since 2011 leaving workers across the country thousands of pounds out of pocket. In the face of rising living costs, this has put the household finances of the very workers keeping this country running under serious strain.

When I last met Rachel Reeves, I raised the need for urgent action on mileage rates directly. So I was pleased that today’s conversation took place against the backdrop of a significant campaign victory: her announcement last month that, thanks to UNISON’s efforts, she would be increasing the approved HMRC mileage rate by 10 pence per mile.

That change has the potential to make a real difference. If employers adopt the new rate, many public service workers who rely on their vehicles for work will be around £1,000 better off this year. At a time when many families are still feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, that matters.

The meeting was positive, constructive and focused on practical solutions. Members welcomed the increase and recognised it as an important step forward. But they were equally clear that this cannot be the end of the conversation.

The reality is that the true cost of owning and running a vehicle still exceeds what many workers receive. Fuel, insurance, maintenance and vehicle costs continue to put pressure on already stretched household budgets.

So there is work to do.

For government, that means looking at further increases in future, introducing more regular reviews and taking action against employers who refuse to do the minimum by reimbursing their staff fairly for their time and travel.

For UNISON, it means taking this campaign into every workplace. A higher HMRC rate only helps workers if employers actually implement it. Our job now is making sure councils, care providers and other employers do the right thing.

Today’s meeting showed what can be achieved when workers organise and speak with one voice. We should celebrate this win. But we should also recognise what our members told us loud and clear today: progress has been made, but the journey is not over.

And as ever, I will keep making the case until every worker is treated fairly.

The post Opinion: Mileage rate increase is just the beginning appeared first on UNISON National.

This year is UNISON’s Year of Green Activity, during which the union is highlighting the role of its members in pushing for greener and fairer workplaces.

At the heart of this work are the union’s green reps. And one of the key initiatives of the year is to win greater recognition and empowerment for those reps. UNISON is leading a trade union campaign that seeks statutory recognition of these increasingly important activists, along with the guaranteed facility time that would come with it.

There is a strong precedent for this ambition. The Employment Rights Act, passed at the end of last year, provides much-needed recognition to equality reps, with paid time off and facilities that will be available from October this year. This mirrors the existing recognition of both safety and learning reps – and it’s this that the unions now want for green reps. In June they will be lobbying MPs to help them achieve it.

UNISON policy officer Michelle Singleton says: “Meeting the challenges of the climate emergency requires all hands on deck. As with health and safety, learning reps and equality reps, green reps are pivotal in ensuring that workplace transitions to net zero are fair, inclusive and effective.

“Spanning advocacy, oversight, education and collaboration, they are essential agents for a just and successful climate transition.”

A voice and advocate for workers

To back the campaign, the TUC has written a position paper on the issue, which outlines the key role that green reps play in helping employers meet the UK’s ambitious climate targets. It describes green reps as the “central pillar” of the trade union climate movement in seeking workplace sustainability and ‘future-proofing’ livelihoods during times of change.

Despite the urgency of the climate crisis, the TUC says that “the majority of organisations still lack even basic climate adaptation and decarbonisation plans. Even among those with emissions targets or publicly stated goals, credible pathways to achieve them are very often lacking.

“We make the case that achieving a net zero economy for the UK, and ensuring that this process is completed fairly and consensually, can be greatly supported by legally recognising and empowering green reps.”

The paper identifies a green rep’s special responsibility to work with their employer to devise and deliver the policies, operational processes, and strategy that will make the enterprise sustainable. It is their special value to be both a voice and advocate for workers.

But whenever green reps are polled, one topic on their minds is that they are not recognised under the law and have to negotiate any facility time individually with managers, workplace by workplace.

“So much time and effort are wasted by green reps and their employers on defining the role and negotiating its purposes, that it drains the ability of green reps to start creating impact,” the TUC says. “A statement in law that green reps can exist in workplaces, have distinct functions, and can take up rights and roles is an essential first step to meaningful change.”

Finding the time

Katie Dickson and Gareth Page are both green reps for the UNISON’s Hertfordshire Police Staff branch – Katie having become the branch’s first ever green rep in March 2023, and Gareth joining her 18 months ago.

Their experience perhaps epitomises the situation in which most green reps currently find themselves – full of enthusiasm and commitment, making some good inroads with their employer, but compromised by the lack of recognition and, in particular, time.

Katie is a business support assistant based at Stevenage Police Station, working in the prosecution of minor traffic offences. She’s a keen environmentalist in the broadest sense, a member of Friends of the Earth and with an interest in wildlife.

If she needs time for her green rep work, Katie has to submit a form, validated by her line manager; sometimes, she will just use her own time. “But I do think that’s unfair, expecting me to use my own leave,” she says.

“I do as much as I can to have the skills to be a green rep and to be as knowledgeable as I can be, but I feel very limited, because I’m neurodiverse as well. I’m working 37 hours a week, staring at a computer screen, and then to expect me to go home and write up all my notes from everything, it’s just a real push for me.”

Gareth is a vehicle technician in the fleet department, based at police HQ in Welwyn Garden City, one of a team keeping some 500 vehicles on the road. One of his achievements as a rep has been to highlight a compliance issue with the fleet’s handling of waste electrical and electronic equipment, which has now been remedied to impressive effect.

Seeking time, for him, is a little less formal than for Katie. “I ask my line manager if I can do union things on certain days and, as part of my personal development, he will allow me time. But there’s no official time, it’s just me having to justify what I’m doing. He has been quite good.”

But Gareth also uses some of his own time. Plus, he has a family. “Yeah, things can busy at home. If facility time became available, if we did get a certain amount of set time per week to do green activities, that would be much better.”

The campaign

Both Katie and Gareth sit on Hertfordshire Constabulary’s sustainability working group – Katie representing UNISON, and Gareth the fleet. The group is meant to ensure that the force meets its green commitments, but the two reps are concerned that since the chair left the force last September, a group that was already meeting just once every two months, hasn’t reconvened at all.

“It’s important that the work continues with the group, and that we don’t lose all of the action points that we’ve worked towards already,” says Gareth. “I do feel strongly about that. But you know, how much do you push it as an individual or as green reps?”

As Katie puts it: “Because I have limited time, I’m not really taken seriously enough.”

Michelle has a solution: “One answer to this predicament lays in statutory recognition, which would give green reps much more influence and clout – and the right to formally ask for additional data and reports.

“With all public sector employers, having to ensure their services meet ambitious net zero emissions targets by 2050, it will take partnership working and workforce engagement to get us there.”

What UNISON is seeking requires legislation. At the end of June, the union will be asking members to email their MPs and ask for their support of new legal rights for green reps, including:

• Legal recognition in the workplace
• Paid time off and training for their role
• Rights to information and consultation on workplace transition plans
• Joint future-proofing committees to help workers and employers plan together.

In short, the union will argue that “a fair transition to net zero needs workers to have a voice.”

Find out about UNISON’s Year of Green Activity

The post Time is of the essence appeared first on UNISON National.

Across: 1 Tale, 3 Sweetpea, 9 Parrots, 10 Great, 11 Alert, 12 Bitter, 14 Enters, 16 Spider, 19 Easter, 21 Salsa, 24 Alter, 25 Apostle, 26 Parmesan, 27 Neat.

Down: 1 Tap water, 2 Large, 4 Wasabi, 5 Eight, 6 Pretend, 7 Anti, 8 Hooter, 13 Ornament, 15 Tractor, 17 Pistol, 18 Armada, 20 Terse, 22 Latte, 23 Damp.

Thanks for taking part.

The post U Magazine crossword answers appeared first on UNISON National.

UNISON members will descend on Westminster next Wednesday, 10 June, as the union steps up pressure on ministers over what it describes as a “broken promise” to migrant care workers.

The day of action marks a significant escalation in the union’s Fair Visa Campaign, by taking it directly to Downing Street and the Home Office for the first time.

Care workers and supporters will lobby MPs inside Parliament, march through central London and hold a vigil outside the Home Office in memory of workers who have taken their own lives after experiencing exploitation under the current sponsorship system.

At the same time, UNISON general secretary Andrea Egan will lead a delegation to Number 10 to deliver a letter directly to prime minister Keir Starmer, urging the government to abandon proposed immigration changes that will triple the qualifying period for permanent settlement from five to 15 years.

Ms Egan said ministers were failing workers who had been encouraged to come to the UK to help sustain social care services during a workforce crisis. “The government’s proposals are cruel, unnecessary and they need to be scrapped,” she said.

The sponsorship system ties a worker’s right to remain in the UK to their employer, a model that leaves workers vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

In addition to dropping the 15-year qualifying period, UNISON is urging the government to introduce a sector-wide visa in social care that would allow workers to move between employers more easily, and to speed up the introduction of a Fair Pay Agreement to improve wages.

The Fair Visa Campaign began with migrant care workers speaking out about their own experiences, and has grown into a wider movement backed by UNISON’s wider membership.

The campaign has steadily gathered momentum over the past year. In December, hundreds of migrant workers travelled from across the UK to Westminster to share their experiences directly with MPs and warn of the consequences of extending the route to settlement. The campaign intensified further in April, when MPs were lobbied across the country and campaigners staged a mass leafleting event in the home secretary’s constituency.

Next week’s action begins at 2pm with some UNISON members lobbying their MPs inside Parliament, as others gather outside in Parliament Square.

At 2:30pm, the demonstrators leave the square for two simultaneous actions: the delegation to Downing Street and the vigil outside the Home Office.

The day will conclude with a rally back in Parliament Square at 4.15pm, where Ms Egan will address campaigners.

UNISON is calling for ministers to:

• Retain a five-year route to settlement for overseas workers.
• Introduce a sector-wide visa scheme in social care to reduce the freedom employers have to exploit workers.
• Deliver a Fair Pay Agreement for social care workers.

Action is urgently needed to address workforce pressures in social care. Adult social care contributed £77.8 billion to England’s economy in 2024/25, but the sector continues to face around 111,000 vacancies.

International recruitment has fallen from 105,000 to 50,000 over the past year, while the number of British workers employed in the sector has fallen by 30,000.

The post UNISON marches on Westminster over ‘broken promise’ to care workers appeared first on UNISON National.

“The recommendations for tackling these issues are wide-ranging and comprehensive. They include mandatory anti-racism training and standards for how NHS organisation respond to incidents so workplaces and services are truly inclusive.

The post No place for antisemitism in the NHS appeared first on UNISON National.

“MPs are right to voice their unease about whether such an ethically questionable company as Palantir should be so embedded into the fabric of public services.

“The NHS is at a crucial point in overhauling the way it handles patient data. But there are growing misgivings about who has access to that personal information.

“Ministers mustn’t risk damaging public confidence in such a major project that should provide better healthcare for millions of people.

“Any nervousness among patients about the use of their data could prompt them to opt out and undermine the whole system.

“It would be far better to make a break from Palantir at the earliest opportunity.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union, with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Media contacts:
Dan Ashley M: 07508 080349 E: d.ashley@unison.co.uk
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk

The post MPs’ concerns about Palantir are justified appeared first on UNISON National.

“Efforts to streamline patient data to provide better care are long overdue and the Single Patient Record is a welcome step in that direction. But there are serious concerns over who has access to that data, and the history of previous failings with major IT projects.

“Allowing a morally dubious firm like Palantir to work with the NHS is damaging public confidence. Ministers should rule the controversial tech firm out of the running to develop the Single Patient Record.

“The government must also remove the clause in the bill allowing the health secretary power to increase the scale of private provision of health services on a whim.

“In opposition, Labour promised the biggest wave of insourcing of public services in a generation. It’s time to start making good on that commitment.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union, with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
Media contacts:
Dan Ashley M: 07508 080349 E: d.ashley@unison.co.uk
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk

The post Rule Palantir out of the running for new NHS patient data system, says UNISON appeared first on UNISON National.

The updated Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidance has been released. As expected, the guidance is confusing and, in many places, completely unworkable. We recognise that the government sent the original version back seeking improvements, we do not believe this updated version goes far enough.

Whilst the government has said this guidance is not intended for workplaces, we anticipate many employers will look to this guidance as the standard to apply in many workplaces.

Over the next 30 days, we will be trying to convince as many MPs as we can to oppose the guidance in the commons.

This is where your voice is vital. We need examples from UNISON members about how this guidance is unworkable in your workplace.

Considerations could include:

• Toilet provision and how this differs from before the Supreme Court judgment. Also, about the complexity and the cost if your employer decides they need to put in additional facilities.
• Human rights and discrimination because of the guidance – e.g. how bullying and harassment will be handled.
• Could the guidance exclude you from workplace activities that you have been part of?
• Asking about a person’s sex in the workplace: the guidance is not clear on where it’s proportionate to do so and what will the ramifications be for members who have customer-facing roles.
• Many UNISON members work in the NHS or services that provide gendered services. How are these going to be affected and how will it affect you as a worker in those services?

Remember, we just need examples from the workplace.

Please send examples to out@unison.co.uk .

For clarity, this guidance is undergoing a mandatory 40-day parliamentary review and will not come into force until it is commenced through a parliamentary procedure. If an employer tries to immediately change workplace policy because of this guidance, please get in touch with your regional office immediately.

We also encourage you to write to your local MP and outline the reasons they should oppose this guidance.

The post Opposing the EHRC guidance – UNISON needs your voice appeared first on UNISON National.

“This is a serious system failure that should never have been allowed to happen.

“It beggars belief this could have continued so long, particularly when the NMC has operated under greater scrutiny because of other mistakes.

“Staff who rely on this system will want to know what went wrong and why it’s only just come to light.

“Patients, their families and registrants rely on the NMC as the gatekeeper of public trust and confidence. It’s only right that its held to the same high standards expected of the people it registers.

“For those affected, it will mean an uncertain and agonising wait, so decisions must now be made quickly, fairly and transparently.

“It’s important the NMC has recognised the problem and apologised, but it must go further and ensure steps are taken to prevent another mistake occurring.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union, with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

Media contacts:
Anthony Barnes M: 07834 864794 E: a.barnes@unison.co.uk

The post NMC failings will let down staff and undermine patient confidence appeared first on UNISON National.