Social care workers in England, irrespective of where they work, no longer face a legal requirement to be vaccinated. If social care employers persist with forcing members to be vaccinated, please seek legal advice. Back in November 2021 the Westminster Government passed a law requiring anyone working in a care home, including people who visited […]
No 10’s Living with COVID plan ‘is likely to result in further illness and disruption to face-to-face education’ Education unions, including UNISON, have urged education secretary Nadhim Zahawi to extend the availability of free COVID-19 tests in England, beyond the end of March. In a letter to Mr Zahawi this week, the unions insist that […]
UNISON has worked with the social worker regulator Social Work England (SWE) to update SWE’s fitness to practise referral guidance for employers and social workers. The updated guides are in links below. There is improved synergy and read-across between the two guidance documents. UNISON views these documents as ‘two faces of the same coin’. There should […]
Most of us have lived our lives in peace and prosperity. We took for granted that we would have enough food on the table, good health care when we needed it, schools for our children to learn in and parks for them to play in – and freedom from the fear of the deadly diseases […]
UNISON has updated the guidance on COVID-19 and disabled, shielding and vulnerable workers. If you are disabled, pregnant, over 70 or have an underlying health condition you should take extra precautions to stay safe during the coronavirus pandemic and may previously have been told to ‘shield’. People who are immunosuppressed or immunocompromised may be particularly […]
Rolling back safety measures risks spread. Responding to education secretary Gavin Williamson’s comments today (Wednesday) that he expects school bubbles to be removed in England if Covid restrictions are lifted on 19 July, UNISON head of education Jon Richards said: “Removing school bubbles and halting self-isolation will lead to more disruption, not less. “Coronavirus cases in schools are at […]
Voters are being reminded that thousands of public sector staff face a government pay freeze in a campaign launched Monday (26th April 2021) by UNISON ahead of the local elections next week. Care home staff, hospital porters and teaching assistants are among key workers featured in a series of hard-hitting films that show them carrying out […]
UNISON’s recommendations for safer re-opening of schools in England The government announced on 27 January that it hopes to re-open schools in England on 8 March. UNISON believes that school re-opening should only happen when the science says it is safe, when school risk assessments have been updated, and when appropriate safety measures have been […]
Unison, Zoom, WhatsApp Group and Me In compliance with the country’s health orders, Restricting in-person meetings, restrictions on boarders. We meet via Zoom a collection of characters, Righting the wrongs of the education parameters. Checking our emails for the details of the link, Carol at the helm, making us think. Coffee brewing, pens and notes pads […]
As the vaccination programme for Covid-19 continues, there finally seems to be a light at the end of a long and difficult tunnel. Estimates suggest that three quarters of us will need to be vaccinated to reach population immunity. How many people will agree to be vaccinated? Are some groups more likely to agree than […]