UNISON warns social work standards are at risk from austerity cuts

12 June 2013

 

Social workers meeting in Glasgow today (Wed) warned that managers and the Scottish Government must do more protect services to the most vulnerable in the face of austerity cuts.

Stephen Smellie, Vice Convener of UNISON Scotland, told a seminar on ethical social work that cutbacks are placing unprecedented pressures on services and on staff working to ensure professional standards are upheld.

Involve staff in health and social care integration or watch reform fail

#stuc13  17 April 2013

 

UNISON today warned that changes to services for the most vulnerable people must do more to involve staff or watch reform fail.

The public services union also said that Scottish Government plans to integrate health and social care services must maintain democratic accountability.

Speaking at the Scottish Trades Union Congress Annual Congress in Perth, UNISON Scotland Convener Lilian Macer listed four key principles for the STUC General Council to take to the Scottish Government:

Any attempts to open up the NHS to privatisation must be stopped; quality services, not cost-cutting must be a principle of integration; service users and staff must be at the centre of decision making; and democratic control is fundamental.

Lilian warned: "Real change comes when staff and service users work together planning how services should be delivered.

"All evidence shows that top down reorganisation won’t produce real integration. The focus must be on joint outcomes –agreed with local partners and relevant to their local circumstances.

"The proposals must have at their core the desire to improve services, not cut costs."

And she blasted proposals for the new Community Health and Social Care Partnerships, to be run by a single individual – the Jointly Accountable Officer, responsible for a multi million pound budget of public money.

Lilian said: "Technically accountable to both the local authority and the health board the so-called jointly accountable officer will in reality be accountable to no one."

UNISON has urged the Scottish Government to set in place a broad staffing framework, based on best practice, to cover a range of issues when public services are reformed.

These include: staff transfer, pensions, secondment, training and development, equality duties, governance and procurement – covering the protections that should prevent setting up a two tier workforce when services are contracted out.

 

Notes to Editors

UNISON is Scotland's largest trade union representing 160,000 members working in the public sector.

UNISON’s submission to the Scottish Government consultation on the integration of adult health and social care in Scotland is atwww.unison-scotland.org.uk/response/IntegrationofAdultHealthandSocialCare_response_Sep2012.pdf

UNISON’s Bargaining Briefing on integration is at www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/b032_BargainingBrief_IntegrationofAdultHealth+SocialCare_Mar2013.pdf


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Integration must be about care not costs

#stuc13 Lilian Macer tells STUC that Scottish Government moves to integrate health and social care when providing services for older people, should be about improving services not about cutting costs. Full story at http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/stuc2013/11.html

Workers must be central in public service reform, not treated as puppets or pawns

27 March 2013

UNISON will today (Wed) tell a committee of MSPs that redesigns of public services must not treat workers as pawns to be moved around recklessly, ignoring best practice lessons.

The public service union has warned the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Regeneration Committee that new ways of delivering services must operate from a proper framework to deal consistently with staffing issues.

Dave Watson, UNISON Scotland’s Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, will tell members that workforce issues are too often neglected when planning reforms such as integrating adult health and social care.

He said in advance of giving oral evidence: "Consultation papers and legislation frequently give the impression the workforce is an afterthought. So we get last minute scrambled together agreements on important issues around staff transfer, pensions, secondment and so on, with no consistency or learning from best practice.

"It is just wrong to treat staff in this way, like puppets or pawns who can be moved around with no rules for how their rights and conditions are transferred and protected.

"Given that most public services rely on people, not machines, this is an extraordinary omission."

He urged the Committee to recommend that the Scottish Government sets in place a broad staffing framework based on best practice.

This would cover a range of key issues including: staff transfer, pensions, secondment, training and development, equality duties, governance and procurement - covering the protections that should prevent setting up a two tier workforce when services are contracted out.

Dave added: "We also want the Scottish Government to take on board one of the key recommendations from the Christie Commission.

"Redesigns of services must be based on genuine engagement with staff and users from the bottom up. It should not be about expensive management consultants imposing solutions from the top down."

ENDS

　

Notes to editors:

UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union representing 160,000 members working in the public sector in Scotland.

Our evidence to the Local Government and Regeneration Committee is online at

http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/response/PublicSectorReform_NewWaysofDeliveringServices_ResponsetoSPLocalGovtCttee_Jan2013.pdf

　

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Conference Briefing: Care integration: Postcode lottery - or local services for local needs?

#uNDC11 Motion 45 on Social Care integration with Health from Scotland, coming up on Monday, was written in the context of Labour’s pre-election plans in Scotland for a National Care Service - but the principles still stand as politicians look to re-shape these cash-starved services.