Scottish Spending Review – UNISON Scotland response

Commenting on today’s Scottish Spending Review announcement, Mike Kirby, UNISON’s Scottish Secretary, said: “While we welcome the news on public sector pensions as it applies to local government, the Finance Secretary had the discretion to carry this across the public services and chose not to do so.
“Although his announcement removes the threat of industrial action in local government, we still have serious issues across the public sector with many thousands of our members still facing unprecedented attacks to their pensions.
“We’re angry at the continuation of the pay freeze which will affect hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers, who have already faced a real-term pay cut for the past two years. There’s also no evidence that the £250 payment for workers earning under £21,000 will be universally applied.”

UNISON Scotland’s Policy Briefing #13 on today’s Spending Review is published on our briefings page – www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings.

UNISON Glasgow Staff Newsletter

Introduction

Welcome to the new Unison Enable Glasgow newsletter.  This year has been and continues to be a busy one.  With the prolonged introduction of personalisation in Glasgow and an ongoing pay claim.  However, we’ve seen a steady rise in membership over the year and now have two new Stewards in Glasgow (contact details above).

On Wednesday 5th October at 4pm, there will be a meeting for all Enable workers in UNISON at UNISON House, 14 West Campbell Street Glasgow G2 6RX.  This is your chance to meet the new stewards and raise any issues or concerns you have to them.  If you are unable to make the meeting on the 5^th of October, and there is anything you want raised please inform one of your stewards, so that this can be heard at the meeting.

Personalisation

Unison’s position continues to be in favour of giving service users greater control of their support but against all the cuts that we believe personalisation has been used to implement.  Back in April we had successful lobby in Glasgow with over 400 people attending including many form Enable.  Since then Glasgow City Council has been slowing down its implementation of personalisation, but cuts are still taking place.  

The cuts from personalisation continue to have a massive effect on the lives people of the people that our member’s support, with many seeing drastic cuts in the level of support they receive. Others are still waiting on the Risk Enablement Panels that are meeting in mid-October to find out what personalisation will mean to their support.

UNISON is continuing to raise awareness and campaign against the severity of these cuts and the effects they are having on the lives of people we support, through engagement with service users, families and support workers.  There will be a meeting to continue this process on Tuesday 20^th September 10am till 12pm at the Glasgow City of Glasgow Branch UNISON, 4^th floor, 18 Albion St, Glasgow, G1 1LH.  This meeting will be open to all service users, workers and family members.  We urge everyone who can make it to come along.

Training for Support Assistants 

UNISON has highlighted to Enable Scotland that training had not been taking place in Glasgow for some time.  Leaving many new staff members without all their mandatory training and many long term staff members with training that is out of date.  Enable agreed that they recognise this is a problem and have said they would soon be starting up training in Glasgow again. 

Nevertheless, we are still waiting for Enable Scotland to follow through on its promises and re-implement its training in Glasgow.  Training is vital in terms of health and safety at work, staff development and progression and also ensuring that we can deliver the highest level of care possible to those we support.   

Pay claim Update

For over 3 years now we have had a pay freeze at Enable and after the consultation ballot, in which members voted heavily in favour of industrial action over pay, there is still no sign of an offer coming from Enable for a consolidated rise for 2010/11 or 2011/12 for the 2.5% pay increase we have been asking for.  At UNISON’s request Enable have agreed to consider making a one off payment to all staff including those on sessional contracts and we await their response and will consider our next steps in light of this.  They have also stated that they are still committed to achieving the Scottish Living Wage, which would see a minimum rate of pay of £7.20 at Enable and discussion will continue other making steps towards this.

Our recent research has also shown that many workers in Enable who do sleepovers with a 16 hour shift and are on the £6.87 rate are in fact earning on average £5.74 an hour, which is less than the National Minimum Wage (NMW) £5.93.  Those workers who are on the £7.20 hourly rate and do sleepovers with a 16 hour shift, currently get an average of £5.96, just above NMW.  However the NMW is due to increase on the 1^st of October to £6.08, meaning they too will be getting an average rate of pay that is below the NMW.  This is illustrated on the graphs opposite, if you believe your average weekly pay falls below the NMW when sleepovers are taken into account then please contact your stewards and we will look to taking cases forward.

MEMBERSHIP AND STEWARDS

There has never been a more vital time to be a member of a trade union. Please pass the enclosed form to a non member colleague or they can join online at www.unison.org.uk/join or by calling 0845 355 0845. Also we need more members to come forward to be stewards. Please consider giving this a go, it is rewarding and stimulating work, you get full training and paid time off to do it. Please let me know if you would like more information on getting active.

CAMPAIGNING AGAINST THE CUTS

UNISON remains at the forefront of speaking out for workers providing services to the public. Recently you may have seen us standing up for workers in Quarriers whose pay and conditions are under attack. What is happening to voluntary sector workers at present is a direct result of Westminster, Scottish and local governments passing on cuts. We need to highlight that it doesn’t need to be like this and there is a better way – tackle tax evasion and avoidance and reprioritise what we spend money on.

UNISON will be fully supporting the STUC’s People First on October the 1^st March and Rally from Glasgow Green at 11.30am on October 1^st to a rally in Kelvingrove Park. Please come along and bring your family and friends to help us ensure a large UNISON voluntary sector presence.

PERSONALISATION IN GLASGOW

We continue to monitor this situation closely and are in the process of producing a campaign bulletin aimed at raising awareness of the issues arising out of the cuts being imposed in Glasgow.

We are organising a meeting from 10am to 12 noon on Tuesday 20^th September at the City of Glasgow Branch of UNISON, 4th Floor, 18 Albion Street, Glasgow G1 1LHfor service users, workers and families affected by personalisation in Glasgow, though the meeting will be of interest to people beyond Glasgow as what happens here will be picked up by other local authority areas.

PAY

As you know Enable have stated they are unable to offer any pay increase for 2010/11 and there is no sign of any offer coming for 2011/12. However they have committed to entering in to talks with us over the possibility of Enable adopting the Scottish Living Wage of £7.20 per hour as a minimum rate. As I write we are still seeking confirmation from Enable of a date to meet.

Whilst we haven’t had substantive discussions yet the adoption of the SLW would be a major step forward. More info on the SLW can be found at this website: http://povertyalliance.org/slw-home.asp .

ARGYLL & BUTE PAY CUTS

We have belatedly been advised that some staff who earn more than £8.50 per hour in Argyll & Bute are being called in to meetings to ‘discuss’ having their hourly rate cut to £8.50 per hour.

We have immediately sought clarification on management’s proposals. If you are affected by this please get in touch with UNISON. In the interim if you are called in to a meeting ask to postpone it and for them to liaise with UNISON over scheduling a new date when you can be represented.

If you do go to a meeting we strongly advise you at this stage not to voluntarily sign up to a new contract based on a lower hourly rate. If you voluntarily sign there is little we can then do to help you. In short don’t sign there and then, take advice from UNISON.

ENABLE CUMBERNAULD STAFF

Former Enable Cumbernauld staff that remain on an EC contract were issued with a memo on 18^th August from Stephen Chalmers, Depute Manager of Operations & Development. The memo says that Enable are cutting the rate paid for overtime from being the same as the hourly contracted rate to £6.87 for all hours worked over 37.5 hours and £7.60 for hours worked up to 37.5 hours.

This memo was issued without any consultation with UNISON. We have written to complain about this and to say that we do not accept this unilateral change. We have requested a meeting to discuss it. Our advice to members affected is do not voluntarily accept a change to your contract. If you are affected please get in touch with UNISON.

Learning Disability Alliance Scotland Newsletter July 2011

We have provided a link to Learning Disability Scotland's newsletter below.

There are two main articles in this edition.

First looks at how the dominant position of local authorities in funding of social care for people with learning disabilities might affect the development of Self Directed Support. A fuller version of this article is available at http://tinyurl.com/SDS2011

Our second article looks at the increasing charges applied for social care services and wonders if this is a new form of "tax" on the most vulnerable.

Mobilise: A week-long Festival of Campaigning skills happening in Edinburgh from 13-20 August 2011

UNISON Scotland's brings you MOBILISE at the Edinburgh festival.


What is Mobilise?

It does exactly what it says on the tin - brings people together and prepares for action. The art of creative campaigning.

We don’t teach protest theory - our workshops are preparation for action. Leaflets are designed, printed and distributed. Blogs are written “live‟ and uploaded. Films are shot, edited and broadcast. Skills learnt - jobs done. MOBILISE is a unique chance to work with artists and performers and develop your creative campaign skills.

For information and booking http://www.mobilisefestival.co.uk/

UNISON calls on Glasgow City Council to halt attacks on people with learning disabilities

UNISON, Scotland’s largest union in public services, has joined together with communities across Glasgow to fight against service cuts.


Trade unionists and members of the public packed out a meeting last week to share concerns over personalisation and fears that Glasgow City Council is using this process simply as a means to save money.

Glasgow City Council started its personalisation agenda last summer. While UNISON supports the principles of personalisation, which are about providing people with more independence, control and dignity, this is not what is happening in Glasgow. The council has always been explicit in its ambition to realise 20 per cent savings as a result of the process.

Mandy McDowall, regional organiser for UNISON, said: “We’re not against the concept of personalisation, but direct payments should be used to complement a range of public services and should not be used as a disguise for cutting services.

“We held this meeting to bring together those who are being directly affected by these cuts. The meeting was packed with staff, users and members of the community who all wanted to share their experiences. We heard from carers who are having their packages cut by 50 per cent; staff who are having their terms and conditions slashed and communities who are suffering facility closures.

“Each person had a different story to tell and the true human cost of each and every cut was laid bare.”

Parents, carers, service users, campaign groups, academics and disability groups were all in attendance at Thursday’s meeting. UNISON says the meeting will be the first of many and is calling on Glasgow City Council to put a halt to service cuts.

Simon Macfarlane, regional organiser for UNISON, added: “Glasgow City Council has not properly assessed the impact of these cuts and is rolling ahead with scant regard to the devastating consequences.

“We’re calling on the council to call a halt to this process and to reinstate the packages that service users had before the new personalisation agenda was agreed, until a thorough review of the process and the impact on people with learning disabilities is assessed. This assessment must involve service users, their families and front line workers and their unions.”

Personalisation Networking Meeting

Arising out of the current crisis in learning disability services in Glasgow brought about by a bastardised version of personalisation UNISON and Defend Glasgow Services have called a meeting for those affected by the issues. The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss what is happening and how workers, service users, carers, families and activists can work together. Whilst focussed on the current experiences in Glasgow the meeting may well be of interest to those from other areas facing similar issues.


The meeting is not a rally, rather a chance to share news, tactics and information. If you have an interest in personalisation please consider joining us on:

7th July 2011

10 am

UNISON House

14 West Campbell St

Glasgow

G2 6RX

PAY & OTHER MATTERS

A copy of correspondence sent to all UNISON members within Enable Scotland is detailed below:


Pay 2010/11
You will be aware that members overwhelmingly supported a pay claim of 2.5% and the adoption of the Scottish Living Wage (£7.15 per hour) as a minimum for settlement on 1 October 2010. It has taken until well in to this year to get a response from management and which is on the blog below this post which we received from Peter Scott. Although dated 31 March it was only received on 7th April, the delay in writing to you has been due to other developments in Enable and elsewhere which I will touch on below.

As you will see the response to our claim by Enable is to offer no pay increase at all. This is the second year running Enable propose to freeze your pay and as things stand there is little prospect of them making any offer on 1 October 2011. In October 2010 RPI inflation was 4.5%, it is currently sitting at 5.3% (March 2011). Inflation measures are based on averages, in many cases as our members are low paid and more of your money goes on fuel and food inflation for you and your family is likely higher than this.

There is no doubt the times are tough and organisations like Enable are having their funding slashed, ultimately at the behest of the ConDem government. That said it is the lowest paid that pay freezes impact on the most and there is a sense that the burden is not being shared fairly. Enable has said little about the cuts and in Glasgow rather than challenging the swingeing cuts coming in under personalisation have taken to advertising on Smooth Radio.

UNISON is spearheading opposition to the cuts in all their guises in all sorts of ways, and day by day it is becoming clearer more and more people are opposing the government. To find out more on all this please do visit our websites http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/ ; www.unison.org.uk/million ; http://www.thereisabetterway.org/ and most importantly for Enable UNISON news follow us at http://unison-enablescotland.blogspot.com/ . Everyday more and more people are joining UNISON, including in Enable.

There is a tension though between peoples’ anger at the pay freezes and widespread concern over job security. There are no easy answers and that is why we need to take a snap shot of your views now. Enclosed with this form is a consultation exercise that allows you the chance to speak your mind on the pay situation, please take a minute or two to let us know your views.

We will take up Enable’s offer of further talks on the Living Wage but won’t rob Peter to pay Paul.

Please remember if you haven’t already done so to sign our online pay petition at: www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/unisoninenable !

Glasgow Personalisation
UNISON supports personalisation; letting people have more say over the services they need. We oppose the term being abused to mask massive cuts. On 28th April hundreds of workers, service users and carers including many from Enable rallied in Glasgow’s George Square to oppose Glasgow City Council’s cuts which have seen some care packages cut by over 70%. The links that have been made between workers, carers and service users will help us take this campaign forward and help us build similar alliances elsewhere in Scotland.

We are waiting to hear from Enable how they respond to the cuts, they hope to pick up new business and say that due to the number of vacancies they are running with they hope to avoid redundancies. We will be in touch with Glasgow members as soon as we hear from them.

We have raised our concerns about the inadequate training available to staff and the suspension of supervision. We have been given assurances this will be addressed and will be watching this space.

Enable have also advised us that they intend to close their Kinning Park offices and intend to move the services in to the Head Office building, which is not wheel chair accessible. We have raised concerns about this and parking etc (not everyone has dedicated parking spaces!) and will ensure consultation takes places before any move is finalised.

Argyll & Bute
Management have indicated that that due to losses in this contract they intend to make some swingeing cuts to some staff’s pay, especially those who transferred in from Richmond Fellowship Scotland. We have indicated that we believe this will be a breach of TUPE. Once Enable publish their proposals we will arrange consultation with members affected.

Employment Services
We are representing members faced with redundancy in Employment Services and have expressed concern about a proposal to reintroduce a bonus system for a small number of staff. Performance related pay has been proven to fail and doesn’t work in the voluntary sector, what little money there is for pay should be used for the benefit of all.

Scottish Community Conference – Glasgow, Saturday 14th May

It’s is not too late to get registered for our conference for community and voluntary sector workers. Please contact your branch if you are interested in coming.

It’s not all doom and gloom …

Our membership is growing and more people are expressing an interest in becoming active in UNISON. Opposition to the cuts is growing and alliances are being built on a daily basis. It doesn’t have to be like this and people from Venezuela to Egypt are showing this. Keep in touch with your stewards, get involved and use the blog: unison-enablescotland.blogspot.com . Together we can make things better!

Enable Scotland response to UNISON's pay claim

Below we reprint the letter received from Peter Scott, Cheif Executive of Enable Scotland in response to UNISON's pay claim for your information. UNISON members will also receive postal communication about this issue shortly.

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Thank you very much for submitting your pay claim on behalf of your members. Unfortunately ENABLE Scotland is not in a position to make a pay award at this time. I would like to assure you that we have carefully considered your claim, but the financial position of the organisation leaves us with no choice. As I outlined at the last JNC meeting ENABLE Scotland is committed to increasing the level of pay for direct support staff, and in particular to working towards meeting the demands set out in the STUC campaign for a ‘living wage for Scotland’. Although we are not in a position to make a pay award at this time (for reasons I will detail below), I would like to reassure you and your members that we are genuinely committed to finding a way of achieving the ‘living wage’ as soon as we responsibly can. We would like to work closely with UNISON to achieve this commitment.


In order for your members to understand why ENABLE Scotland is unable to offer a pay award at this time, it is important that they understand the financial reality the charity is facing. As outlined in a letter written by our independent auditors to our Finance Committee in September of last year, our charity has found it necessary to release considerable sums from our central funds to reach a break even position, and these releases “mask the overall loss of the charity”.

Clearly, and as indicated starkly by our auditors, this position is not sustainable, and action is necessary to ensure the charity operates within its means to ensure its long term sustainability.

We have taken a number of steps over the course of the last year to address these problems, and your members will be well aware of many of these measures. However, despite these efforts, we find ourselves in a position where we expect to achieve only a breakeven result in the current financial year, and so any pay award at this time would put the organisation into deficit, a position it simply cannot afford to find itself in.

We continue to make structural and other changes to our charity in order to ensure we are able to operate within our means, and to help us reach a position where we can achieve the ‘living wage’ for our lower paid members of staff. You will understand, however, that this is challenging for us in the current public sector financial environment. We no longer receive, for example, the annual funding uplifts from Local Authorities that previously we could pass on to our employees. Indeed our funders are now demanding substantial reductions in our levels of funding.

The Board and Executive Directors of ENABLE Scotland are committed to working with our staff and UNISON to find ways to achieve the ‘living wage’ target as soon as we can. Therefore, we would like to invite you to join us in a working group to explore how we can effectively work together to meet this aim. If you are in agreement, we will convene the group at the earliest opportunity.


Many thanks,


Peter Scott
Chief Executive

No if's, no but's, no disability cuts!

A very succesful protest was held today under the umbrella of the Defend Glasgow's Services campaign.


The protest which brought together trade unions, campaign groups, service users, families of service users and workers providing services heard a range of speeches from the broad range of people in attendance on how Glasgow city council's shameful cuts under the guise of personalisation are impacting upon service users, their families and cuts hours and wages for staff.

We hope it's the start of a unified campaign to fight these cuts, disguised as personalisation!

You can contact Defend Glasgow's Services on 0141 552 7069 or follow them on Facebook.

Scotland’s most vulnerable young people under attack as services face the axe

SCOTLAND’s most vulnerable young people are under attack by government cuts as thousands of staff in the community and voluntary sector face redundancy.


UNISON, Scotland’s largest union in the community and voluntary sector, said urgent action must be taken to halt these drastic cuts and urged the country’s politicians not to throw our young people on the scrapheap.

Councils across the country are being hit with the biggest spending cuts in living memory. No service is safe – but one of the hardest hit is services for young people.

This week alone, more than 2,000 workers from the voluntary and community sector have been threatened with redundancy, while others face attacks on their pay and conditions.

One Scottish charity, Quarriers – which was originally set up to look after orphaned and destitute children – yesterday issued 90 days’ notice to all of its 2,000 staff. The move comes as the charity announced plans to cut its staffing budget by £2.5m – almost twice as much as their own figures (£1.3m) claim are required.

Elsewhere, services to vulnerable young people are also under threat as the Cora Foundation – a voluntary organisation that runs three secure units for young people – issued letters to hundreds of workers threatening them with redundancy. This leaves staff at three of the country’s five secure units (St Phillip’s in Plains; St Mary’s Kenmure in Bishopbriggs; and the Good Shepherd in Bishopton) facing the axe. If secure units run by Cora close, then the courts will be left with no option but to send young offenders to institutions like Polmont, at a much greater cost to the taxpayer.

UNISON has also condemned moves by youth justice charity, Includem, which has refused to negotiate with the union and has instead unilaterally imposed a 9.5 per cent pay cut on its staff.

Simon Macfarlane, regional organiser with UNISON, said: “We’re calling on Scotland’s political parties to focus on the real issues in the week ahead and to prioritise putting a stop to these outrageous cuts. We also need voluntary organisations to act in a responsible manner, to engage constructively with UNISON and not to capitalise on the situation to make unwarranted attacks on low-paid workers.

“Our members work hard to provide services that make a huge difference to the lives of young people and cutting them will only store up problems for generations to come. Services for our vulnerable young people are vanishing and, once these services are destroyed, they will take a long time to recover. Surely every young person deserves a fair chance?”

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The above press release was picked up by a number of media outlets including The Herald

Cuts to social care provision should not be disguised by words such as ‘personalisation’ and ‘reform’, says UNISON.

In a speech to the Scottish Trades Union Congress in Ayr this morning, Lilian Macer, the UNISON Scottish Convenor, said that direct payments must complement a range of public services and should not be used to cover for inadequacies in public provision.

Lilian Macer told the Congress: “The ConDem Government is planning to slice into social care provision and try to cover up the wound with sticking plasters, labelled ‘personalisation’ or ‘reform’. Let’s be clear, we have nothing to fear from reform. But when the first question isn’t ‘how do we make a better service?’ but instead ‘how do we make a cheaper service?’, then it’s not about reform, it’s about attacking services.

“And it’s a low, mean, dishonest trick to try to implement cuts to the services of the most vulnerable people in our society. We believe that everyone should have as much independent, choice and control over their care as they want. But this has to be real choice, not the only option because other facilities and arrangements have been closed or made unavailable.”

In moving a motion to ensure vital services provided for older people are protected under these cuts, Lilian Macer told delegates that personalisation should be an option, but not a cheap option.

She continued: “There are those that see personalisation as a wonderful way of fabricating millions out of social care budgets. They think that by passing money to people directly - that they won’t notice it’s less than they used to rely on. Congress, we need to send a clear message to the politicians and decision makers in Holyrood and council chambers, that they need to accept responsibility for the decisions they take about peoples’ lives. And that we expect more from our parliament and councillors, than a rubber stamp on David Cameron’s cuts agenda.”

Personalisation of Care Services in Glasgow

About personalisation

Last summer Glasgow City Council started a process called ‘personalisation’ and ‘self-directed support’ across services provided by Social Work. We support the principles of personalisation, which are about providing people with more independence, control and dignity. However, this is not what is happening in Glasgow. Right from the word go, the council was explicit in its ‘working assumption’ that at least 20% savings would be made.

The process is well advanced for learning disability services, but will be rolled out in time to those with physical disability, children with disability, mental health and eventually older people. In the autumn of last year providers of services, mainly charities and private companies, were asked to fill in Self Evaluation Questionnaires (SEQ) on behalf of the people with learning disabilities they support.

Defend Glasgow Services is aware from speaking to union members involved in providing care services, that on many occasions these forms were completed without direct input from the service user (not always possible), their family or guardians or their key worker. The forms were then put through a resource allocation system, which allocates individual budgets to those who need support, resulting in some seeing a cut of almost 80%. Most providers in the city are facing overall budgets cut of 35 to 40%. Additionally, in most cases, the Individual Budget now has to cover provision for activities and services during the day as the council will no longer provide day services to most people with learning disabilities, presenting a further strain on budgets.

There is no formal appeals process to these cuts in budgets. There is an opportunity to have matters looked at again by a Risk Enablement Panel, however, there is little evidence so far that this process is substantially altering the overall picture of massive cuts.

What does this mean for individuals with learning disabilities?
Wide scale loss of sleepover provision: people with learning disabilities often need someone available at night to assist them with toileting, helping them get in and out of bed, and generally to be on hand should anything untoward occur. Having a presence at night also stops vulnerable people being a target for those who would seek to exploit them.

Massive reduction in care packages: People who previously had 24/7 care are now going to have care for only a few hours a day. There is a danger people will become isolated in their homes with no support to lead a full and active life. Beyond this the level of cuts are so severe that independent living will no longer be viable for many and people will be forced to move in with other people in order to pool support, this is completely contrary to personalisation and for many will be a regressive step.

Lost education opportunities: Many people with learning disabilities need support to attend college courses and access other training. Without the money to pay for the support needed they will not be able to go. As a UNISON member put it ‘this is an accident waiting to happen’.

What does this mean for workers?
Workers providing care and support to those with learning disabilities in Glasgow are seeing a range of attacks on their terms and conditions. This is creating widespread concern among care workers. So far we have seen:

• Redundancies;
• Cuts to sick pay schemes;
• Reduction in hours;
• Threats to hourly rate;


The wider cuts agenda
Like us all, people with learning disabilities depend on other public services (e.g. Department of Work and Pensions, Further Education)and indeed often need them more, so as well as their own services being cut they will suffer from reduced public provision. Add to this the onslaught on benefits and the welfare state and it is clear that we are not all in this together. The cuts hit the poor, vulnerable and voiceless the hardest.

What can we do?
• Lobby the Council against these cuts: on 12.30 pm Thursday 28th April 2011, Glasgow City Chambers, George Square

It’s time to unite workers, service users, their families and friends to show mass opposition to these attacks on some of the most vulnerable in our community. The council needs to halt the process, maintain funding and engage in meaningful and genuine consultation with service users.

• Raise the issue with politicians they are chasing you vote for the Scottish Parliament elections and go and see your Councillor or write to them, details available from your library of visit www.writetothem.com

• Ensure someone is sticking up for people with learning disabilities

If they can’t themselves, workers will be restricted in what they can do for clients they support, but there are groups such as Learning Disability Alliance Scotland (http://www.ldascotland.org/ 07920 141823 ) and the Coalition of Carers in Scotland (http://www.carersnet.org// 01786 825529) that can help those with learning disabilities and their families. There are also a number of advocacy organisations that can help people in these situations, more information on local groups can be found via the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (http://www.siaa.org.uk// 0131 260 5380).
• Get active, get organised, get involved. Join a union and join the campaigns!

For more information log on to http://www.thereisabetterway.org/

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY CONFERENCE – SATURDAY 14TH MAY

The 2nd Scottish Community Service Group Conference will take place on:

Saturday 14th May

10.30 am

UNISON House,

14 West Campbell Street,

Glasgow

G2 6RX.

This will be an important opportunity for members from the community, voluntary and housing association sectors to come together and discuss the current challenges they face and how UNISON can best respond. These sectors are experiencing massive challenges due to issues such as funding cuts; personalisation/self-directed support; housing benefit reforms; and Protection of Vulnerable Groups. There will be an opportunity to discuss all these issues and more on the day.

There will be a range of speakers and sessions to ensure members get a chance to learn, contribute and feel empowered to help represent community members when they return to the workplace.

Given the unprecedented situation in terms of cuts we have decided to run the Conference as open as possible to encourage as broad and as large an attendance as possible. Branches are asked to appoint as many delegates as possible, there is no limit; we would though ask you to identify a lead delegate. This is so that if there is a contested election for the Committee the lead delegate will be handed a ballot paper, voting will be weighted dependent on the number of Community members in the branch rather than numbers of delegates.

Contact you branch if you wish to attend.

Meeting to discuss cuts in the voluntary sector - Wednesday 13th April

Pay freezes, pay cuts, redundancies, attacks on terms and conditions are happening all over Scotland in the voluntary sector.

One example of this is the impact of the personalisation agenda in Glasgow which has seen the Council impose massive cuts in the budgets of service users.

So far most voluntary organisations in Glasgow involved in learning disability services are responding by passing on the cuts to staff in one way or another. 

UNISON is calling a meeting to look at how we can respond to this in a more co-ordinated way and the UNISON Quarriers Branch has kindly agreed to host the meeting.

The meeting will be at 10.00am on Wednesday 13^th April at the

UNISON Office, 4^th Floor, Empire House, 131 West Nile Street, Glasgow G1 2RX.

Don’t forget – you can save on tax with childcare vouchers!

ENABLE Scotland has had a childcare voucher scheme in place with Computershare Voucher Services since 1 October 2010. This scheme allows you to buy childcare vouchers to pay for registered childcare and save on tax and National Insurance. You make the saving because ENABLE Scotland pays for the vouchers on your behalf and then deducts the same amount from your gross salary, meaning that you pay less in tax and National Insurance.


So far, only a small number of staff have taken advantage of the childcare voucher scheme and we wanted to make sure that all staff are aware of it. There should be posters in your local office base about Computershare Voucher Services. If not, please speak to your manager about arranging for some to be sent.

Anyone who is interested can contact Computershare Voucher Services online or by telephone to buy the required childcare vouchers. If you receive working tax credits, you should always check with Computershare Voucher Services as to whether it would be in your interest to use childcare vouchers and the company can provide as much guidance as you need before you make a decision.

When contacting Computershare Voucher Services, you should quote the scheme ID number below and have a recent pay slip to hand.

There are no other charges for you to worry about and the system will be administered by Computershare Voucher Services, which has been providing this service to employers since 1998 and processes vouchers for 110,000 working parents within 14,000 organisations. All we ask is that you commit to buying vouchers for a minimum period of 6 months.

If you are interested, please contact Computershare Voucher Services and they will explain how the scheme works and how you would benefit.

Lorraine Davidson

Executive Director (Human Resources)



SCHEME ID: 14875414

www.computersharevoucherservices.com

0845 002 111 Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm

Abolition of the default retirement age: Q&A

When is the default retirement age being abolished?

The default retirement age will be abolished from 1 October 2011. Employees who reach 65 on or after 1st October 2011 cannot be forced to retire using the current statutory procedure.Transitional provisions will apply from 6 April 2011 which mean that the last date that employers can issue notices of retirement is 5 April 2011. Retirements issued by this date will be lawful provided that the employer follows the correct procedure.

Will employers be able to force employees to retire once the default retirement age is abolished?
No. From 6 April 2011, retirement will no longer be included as one of the potentially fair reasons for dismissal under s.98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, unless the transitional provisions apply and the employee has already been given notice of retirement in accordance with the statutory retirement procedure. A forced retirement after this date could potentially lead to a successful claim for unfair dismissal and/or age discrimination, unless:
- the employee wants to retire voluntarily
- the employer will has a fair, objective reason for dismissal (such as redundancy or capability) and follow a fair procedure before they dismiss

In what circumstances will employers be able to justify compulsorily retiring employees?
To be able to retire employees compulsorily, employers will have to be able to demonstrate that the retirement age is objectively justified. The ACAS guidance states that employers will continue to be able to retire an employee at a set age provided it can be objectively justified. They call this the “employer justified retirement age” (EJRA).

They go on to say that they expect “case-law around EJRA [to] develop once the DRA has been abolished.” Examples given of objective justifications are workforce planning or the health and safety of individual employees.

How will the abolition of the default retirement age affect recruitment practices?
According to XpertHR: “Employers may need to adjust their recruitment practices, to ensure that the number of new employees recruited is proportionate to the number of retirements. This is likely to be less predictable once the default retirement age has been abolished.”

“In addition, the current exemption from the age discrimination provisions that allows employers to reject an applicant who has reached, or is within six months of reaching, the retirement age of 65 or older, will no longer apply from 6 April 2011. Employers will need to ensure that they consider applications from candidates of any age on the basis of merit and suitability for the job in question rather than their age.”

For UNISON guidance on this issue, see the Age Equality Factsheet here.

Mike Short, Community National Officer responds to news Women's refuge chief returns OBE in protest over cuts

Big society sums just don't add up



The Guardian, Tuesday 22 February 2011


It was sad to read about Denise Marshall's no doubt tough decision to return her OBE in protest at government cuts (Report, 16 February) – a further indication of the damage the Tory-led government is inflicting on the "civil society" it wants to use to replace the state. Organisations like Eaves and Women's Aid already provide vital services for vulnerable women, in partnership with the public sector. But the government's cuts will cost the voluntary sector as much as £5bn when demand for the services such organisations provide is increasing.

The proposed "big society" bank, which will lend two-thirds of its £300m at expensive commercial rates, is just window dressing and will be of little assistance. Against this backdrop, the so-called big society will not empower or strengthen communities; it will leave them with more to do, but with only a fraction of their current resources. It is an attack on both the public sector and the voluntary sector, and it will cause real hardship for millions of people.

Mike Short

National officer, community and voluntary sector, UNISON

UNISON's response to SCVO chief executive on 'cuts'

Below we reprint a letter from Ian Williamson, Chair of UNISON Scotland's Community sector committee and an employee of SPPA. Ian has mailed this letter to 'Third Force News' following comments made by the SCVO Chief Executive, Martin Sime.

Dear Sir

At a time when a broad, cross sector campaign against the coalition’s ideologically inspired spending cuts is required, it is disappointing to hear the Chief Executive of SCVO, Martin Sime, call for the Scottish Government to ‘stop protecting’ the jobs of public sector workers delivering vital public services (‘Battle Begins for a Fair Future’, TFN 4 February).

His assertion that the third sector also provides public services is one that UNISON is in complete agreement with. It is for this reason that UNISON has over the years worked with third sector employers to push for funding arrangements which factor in full cost recovery and parity (with the wider public sector) of pay and conditions for employees in the sector.

Our 6,000 members working in the sector in Scotland are among those facing redundancy or an uncertain future as a result of the cuts. We are determined to fight for each and every one of our members’ jobs in the third sector as well as the public sector.

Instead of evoking the legacy of Thatcherism with his attack on the ‘bloated’ public sector, Martin Sime should be standing alongside his partners in the trade unions to defend all public services, whether they are delivered by the public sector or by voluntary and community organisations. Instead of engaging in a divisive “don’t sack us, sack them” exercise, he should be directing his fire at the Government in London, whose programme of savage cuts will throw hundreds of thousands on the dole and do untold damage to public services and to the wider economy.

Ian Williamson

Chair

UNISON Scottish Community Service Group Committee

Default retirement age comes to an end

The Coalition Government has announced that the default retirement age will be abolished from 1st October 2011. The phasing out will begin in April 2011. The last day workers can be forced to retire using the Default Retirement Age (DRA) is 30 September 2011. As a result, the final day that an employer can provide six months’ notice using the DRA is 30 March 2011.


In general terms, under the new system the dismissal or retirement of older workers is intended to be dealt with either by an objective company policy, individual negotiation or by formal performance management procedures. The recently published ACAS guidance on this subject summarises the issue with the following statement: “Removing the DRA does not mean that employees will never be able to retire. It just means that employers cannot force employees to retire at a set age unless the age can be objectively justified”

UNISON advice to workplace reps is to monitor closely all retirement and dismissal procedures during the transitional period described above. Branches should seek to negotiate a workplace retirement policy which incorporates these changes and creates a level playing field for all employees regarding retirement.

Austerity and UNISON members: a survey

UNISON and PCS are launching a joint survey to measure the impact of the austerity measures on our members’ finances. We know that members and their families are struggling to make ends meet. The recent rise in VAT has come on top of price rises on household essentials, cuts in benefits and proposals to increase pension contributions - all at a time when members are being hit by pay freezes, pay cuts and redundancies.


In this survey we hope to obtain clear evidence to show the hardship these austerity measures are causing our members.

The survey is available by clicking on the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J69PSTK or there will be a hardcopy available for those members that do not have online access. The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete and we would urge as many members as possible to take part in the survey by Sunday 20 February 2011. You will be making an important contribution to your union’s campaign against the cuts.

The survey asks members some quite sensitive financial questions, but it is information that is necessary for us to calculate the true impact of the cuts on our members’ finances. The information will be treated as completely confidential. The results will provide the UNISON with hard evidence that will help us make our case in negotiations on pay and pensions and our campaigning and media work.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Deborah Littman .

For any technical problems accessing the survey contact Louisa Withers.

The top ten tax shirkers – vote now

The government talks tough about clamping down on benefit ‘cheats’. Yet when faced with tax avoidance by the very wealthy, which sucks far more out of our economy than benefit fraud, ministers go quiet.

To help throw some light on this murky world, the Tax Justice Network has nominated its top ten tax shirkers and we’d like you to choose the worst offender. The winner will receive a small token of our esteem.

We're not suggesting anyone is breaking the law. But that's the problem: we need action to make sure those involved in the multi-billion pound tax avoidance industry, who act legally but use loopholes and tax havens to pay less tax, are stopped in their tracks.

You can vote here http://falseeconomy.org.uk/tax

VOTING ENDS ON MIDNIGHT 30th JANURY 2011

The benefits of UNISON membership......UNISON secures £27,398,985 compensation for personal injuries

Assaults, car crashes, back injuries and slips at work are among the cases UNISON has won £27,398,985 worth of compensation for in 2010.

The UK's largest public sector union has handled 3,893 cases to help members receive justice for the pain and suffering caused by personal injuries.

UNISON's General Secretary, Dave Prentis, said:

"A lot of these injuries could and should have been prevented. These jobs are not dangerous - nursery workers, dental technicians and dinner ladies - but, because employers have been negligent, some UNISON members have lost their health, families, confidence and careers.

"Employers have a duty of care and where they fail, workers and their families deserve compensation for the pain and suffering caused by personal injuries.

"Last year UNISON secured £28million for workplace injuries but, one year on, and it's clear some employers have still not learnt their lesson and introduced safer working practices".

In Scotland, UNISON handled 224 cases and members received £1,602,762.20 compensation.

Remember if you are not a member you can join by clicking the link on the front page.