Record of Decisions

SUMMARY OF DECISIONS

M1An end to discrimination

(Carried as amended by 1.1)

M2Increase in the basic state pension

(Carried as amended by 2.1)

M3The Pensions Bill – and who pays it

(Carried as amended by 3.1)

M4Your pension fund needs you!

(Carried as amended by 4.1)

M5 Hands off our benefits

(Carried as amended by 5.1 & 5.2)

Comp A Hands of our universal benefits

(Carried)

Comp BWinter fuel allowance: time for increase

(Carried)

Comp CThreat to the bus pass and universal benefit

(Carried)

M12 Care of older people

(Carried as amended by 12.1 & 12.2)

M13 Home care staff

(Carried)

M14 Ethical care charter

(Carried)

M15 Ethical care charter for commissioning home care

(Carried as amended by 15.1)

M16 Pensioners and prostate cancer

(Carried as amended by 16.1)

M17Drug monitoring and suitability for older people

(Carried as amended by 17.1)

M18 Wider societal benefits of treatment

(Carried)

M19Restructuring annual retired members’ conference

(Carried)

M20 Conference caucuses

(Remitted)

Comp EE Communications

(Carried)

M23 Cocoa tins and string

(Carried)

M24 Inclusive communication for older people

(Carried as amended by 24.1)

M25 Funding for retired activity

(Carried)

M26Ageing well in Unison

(Carried)

M27Travel insurance

(Carried)

M28 National Pensioners’ Convention

(Carried as amended by 28.1)

M29Fight against plans to make official government forms online – only

(Carried as amended by 29.1)

M30 Generation united

(Carried as amended by 30.1)

M31 Housing for older people

(Carried as amended by 31.1)

S01 Amendment to standing orders – Standing order 3

(Carried)

EM1 Future of health and social care in England

(Carried)

TEXT OF MOTIONS

1. AN END TO DISCRIMINATION

Carried as amended by 1.1

Conference notes that there continues to be discrimination in both the state and occupational pensions for many of our retired members. In particular, women pensioners continue to receive a much smaller pension, on average, than men.

Conference also notes that the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, which applies to England and Wales, required the United Kingdom government to review the differing treatment of widows, widowers, surviving same-sex spouses and surviving civil partners in occupational pension schemes. UNISON, other trades unions and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) made submissions to the review. They all called for equality among different groups of survivors based on levelling up benefits to those of widows. So far, the government has issued a report with estimated costs of equalisation but it has not said what it will do.

Conference instructs the National Retired Members’ Committee to work with the relevant Self Organised Groups at National level to:

1. Urge UNISON Retired Members to sign the TUC e-petition which calls for fair treatment for widowers, civil partners and same-sex spouses;

2.Approach, with urgency, the Affiliated Political Fund with a view to seeking from the Labour Party a commitment to legislate for equality and to produce briefing material so there can be similar approaches in regions and local campaigning; and,

3.Investigate these discriminatory practices and to report back with proposals on how best they can be overcome.

2. INCREASE IN THE BASIC STATE PENSION

Carried as amended by 2.1

Conference is very concerned that the Basic State Pension (BSP) has remained below the poverty level for many years. In April 2014, it was increased to £113.10 per week for a single pensioner, a rise of £2.95 per week. The National Pensioners Convention statistic for the poverty level is £175. The deficit of £64.90 is appalling! The BSP in the UK is still one of the lowest in Europe (4th from bottom) although we are the 7th richest nation in the world!

If the Retail Price Index (RPI) had still been in place, the increase would have been 3.2% instead of the September 2013 Consumer Price Index (CPI) rise of 2.7% (£2.95). For the calculation of CPI, the ‘basket’ of goods and services used should be more appropriate to pensioners and should not be a calculation for general use. The measure of inflation should return to RPI for uprating all pensions.

Means-testing pensioners for the Pension Credit Guarantee is continuing and for a single pensioner it rose from £145.40 per week to £148.35, an increase of £2.95. This indicates that the Government thinks that £148.35 is the amount pensioners need to live on.

The new Pension Bill became law on 14 May 2014 and means that the new BSP will not be less than £148.40 per week, the actual amount will be set in the autumn of 2015 and will be paid to ‘new’ pensioners. The present BSP is £113.10 and is £35.30 below this amount and CPI will be based on September 2014 inflation for the rise in the present 2014 BSP to be paid in 2015, it probably won’t be more than £3. Therefore, present pensioners will receive a BSP of, say, £116.10 but the ‘new’ pensioners will receive £148.40! How unfair is that?

Therefore, this UNISON National Retired Members’ Conference instructs the National Retired Members’ Committee and calls on the National Executive Council to:

1Campaign urgently for an increase in the Basic State Pension to at least the poverty level of £175 a week for a single pensioner and £325 for couples;

2Campaign for a return to annual increases in the Basic State Pension based on the Retail Price Index (RPI) or the annual increase in average earnings or an increase sufficient to ensure that the Basic State Pension is not lower than the poverty level, whichever is the greater;

3Take positive action to make our concerns known to the Government through LabourLink, national and regional branches of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), local Trades Councils, by lobbying MPs, and by supporting the National Pensioners Convention and the Scottish Pensioners’ Forum in their campaigns;

4Report regularly on progress to National Retired Members’ Committee meetings and publicise on all appropriate communication channels, including the national UNISON website, U Magazine, In-Focus and E-Focus. The information must also be circulated to Regions and Branches;

5Report back to the 2015 National Retired Members’ Conference on action taken and actual achievements.

3. THE PENSIONS BILL - AND WHO PAYS IT

Carried as amended by 3.1

Conference notes that the proposals in the Government's Pensions Bill - self-praised by them as a way of making the state pensions system clearer and fairer - do neither of these things, do nothing for existing pensioners, and would result in a multi-tier pensions system so complicated that not only pensioners but probably even those administering it would struggle to understand it. The one clear thing is (as the Government's own figures show) that it is a way of saving money, as by 2050 the bill would be less than today's.

Conference calls on the National Retired Members' Committee to help regions and branches to support the National Pensioners' Convention and the Scottish Pensioners’ Forum in publicising the shortfalls of the Bill and campaigning amongst MPs to stop it (or repeal it if passed into law before Conference).

4. YOUR PENSION FUND NEEDS YOU!

Carried as amended by 4.1

Conference fully supports the UNISON campaign for transparency and better governance with regard to the pension boards responsible for the pensions of our members, including retired members. It also supports the encouragement of UNISON members to become Member Nominated Representatives (MNRs) on those boards. It is vital to recognise the opportunity this presents to encourage much more representative boards, by ensuring that our MNRs reflect more closely the make-up of our membership including beneficiaries’representatives, and encouraging more retired members to take up those roles.

Members of Pension Funds need a voice on these boards to fully represent and report on the viability of their schemes. Viable schemes are important not only for future pensioners but equally so for those scheme members in receipt of a pension. That is why retired members must have the opportunity to be heard on pension boards. The ability to influence and ask questions of their pension fund, as set out in Recommendation 17 of the Hutton Report is fully supported by UNISON but present Pension Fund Committees continue, in some instances, to be unsupportive and negative to such changes.

Conference notes that the Service Group Liaison Committee has an agreed implementation project to organise, recruit, train and support UNISON activists who want to become board members.

Conference therefore calls on the National Retired Members’ Committee to work with appropriate bodies within UNISON with a view to encouraging the involvement of retired members as MNRs.

5. HANDS OFF OUR BENEFITS

Carried as amended by 5.1 & 5.2

Conference has on several occasions made policies regarding our determination to hang on to the small (but valuable and much valued) universal benefits elderly people have such as bus passes, free TV licenses etc. We must now recognise that there is yet another political threat to these: leading UKIP figures have made no secret of their desire to abolish or at least means-test these benefits should they ever have the political strength to do so. Whilst even a year or so ago that seemed a very remote possibility, their recent successes in the local and European elections, and the virtual demise of the Lib Dems, conjure a nightmare General Election result next year of a no overall control Government led by the Tories with the balance of power held by UKIP. We must recognise - and make our members, who proportionately turn out very well to vote aware- that UKIP “has aims largely opposed to those of UNISON, for example with respect to workers’ rights, public services and equalities”.

Conference therefore calls on the National Retired Members' Committee to work with our NEC and both our Political Funds to make it very clear to our members and the public exactly how union-unfriendly UKIP's policies really are, how negative the impact UKIP’s policies would have on retired people and the harm UKIP’s policies on immigration and towards migrant workers would do to the United Kingdom economy especially to the services upon which many retired people rely.”

COMPOSITE A. HANDS OFF UNIVERSAL BENEFITS

(Motions 6 and 7 and amendments 6.1 and 7.1)

Carried

Conference opposes any attempts by Governments across the UK to cut universal benefits for older people such as the winter fuel payment, free bus pass, free prescriptions and free TV licences.

These benefits are essential to ensuring a decent standard of living and social inclusion for millions of pensioners who face daily poverty, fuel poverty and discrimination due to inadequate occupational and state pensions, as well as unequal access to public services including health and social care. They are essential to help keep older people independent and active.

Any reductions in these benefits will have an adverse affect on pensioners especially those who are already on the breadline.

Pensioners need the bus pass, free health prescriptions and winter fuel payment, why because the state pension is nowhere near a living income.

Conference:

1. Refutes the myth that all pensioners are wealthy. The reality is that the UK is ranked fourth out of 27 EU countries in relation to the risk of poverty amongst older people;

2.Refutes the myth that pensioners are a burden on society. Research shows that the overall net contribution by older people to the UK economy is almost £40bn a year;

3.Refutes the myth that means testing will help the neediest. All the evidence shows that means testing does not work for older people with over £5billion a year of means tested benefits going unclaimed, mostly by those who need them the most;

4.Refutes the myth that older people have escaped the austerity measures. Over the past few years the Winter Fuel Payment has been reduced, personal tax allowances have been frozen; pensions have been indexed to a lower CPI measure of inflation (CPI); and the increase in the state pension age for women has been brought forward.

Conference calls on the National Retired Members Committee to work with the ‘Hands Off’ campaign’ in its struggle to defend universal benefits for older people. The ‘Hands Off’ campaign is currently backed by the Age Sector Platform in Northern Ireland, the National Pensioners’ Convention, the Welsh Senate of Older People and the Scottish Pensioners’ Forum.

Conference also calls on the National Retired Members Committee to work with all relevant UNISON structures to oppose any current and future attack on universal benefits to ensure that whichever government is in power is aware to keep their “hands off our universal benefits” and report back to 2015 Retired Members’ Conference.

COMPOSITE B. WINTER FUEL ALLOWANCE: TIME FOR INCREASE

(Motions 8 and 9 and amendment 9.1)

Carried

Conference is very concerned that the Winter Fuel Allowance payments were included in the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne’s Budget statement on 19 March 2014, when he stated that benefits will be capped in 2015/16.

The statistic (National Pensioners Convention) for the 2013/14 winter is that 31,000 pensioners died of cold-related diseases. The United Kingdom is the 7th richest country in the world and it allows people to die in situations which could be avoided if money was available to pay for gas, electricity etc. so that they could keep warm. What a shocking statistic!

If the basic state pension was raised to above the poverty level (£178 per week for a single pensioner) from £113.10 (April 2014), a deficit of £64.90, pensioners would be able to afford to heat their homes AND eat, whereas, at present, in many cases they have to make a choice between the two. Last winter, Age UK reported that more than a quarter of pensioners over the age of 65 were worried about staying warm at home; half of pensioners were concerned about the increasing costs of energy bills. The Government can do something to help. As called for by York Older People’s Assembly: it is time the Government increased the value of the Winter Fuel Allowance. The allowances were the same in 2013 as they were in 2008. This is shameful. Average household bills have doubled in the past six years, so the proportion of energy costs covered by WFA has probably halved. While the basic state pension remains one of the worst in Europe, the Winter Fuel Allowance and other benefits are crucial to the survival of pensioners.

The Government has been unwilling or unable to curb the massive rises in energy prices and the large energy companies are continuing to make huge profits. In March this year a report by the energy regulator Ofgem criticised the effectiveness of competition in the UK energy market. Ofgem has called for an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which could take 18 months to complete. The price of energy has become an important political issue, particularly after several of the ‘big six’ (accounting for 95% of the energy supply market) raised tariffs at the end of 2013. Although some suppliers have announced price freezes – and Ed Miliband has pledged to freeze energy prices for 20 months if Labour is elected in 2015 – even the most optimistic timescale for some improvement in market competition, perhaps bringing a halt to price rises, cannot change the burden of energy costs in the winter of 2014/15 and beyond.

Therefore, this UNISON National Retired Members Conference instructs the National Retired Members Committee and calls on the National Executive Council to:

1.Campaign urgently for an increase in the Winter Fuel Allowance to £700 for the over 80’s households and £500 for the under 80’s households in 2015;

2. Build a campaign to encourage the major energy companies to curb their prices;

3. Take positive action to make our concerns known to the Government through LabourLink, national and regional branches of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), local Trades Councils, by lobbying MPs, and by supporting the National Pensioners Convention and the Scottish Pensioners’ Forum in their campaigns;

4.Report regularly on progress to National Retired Members Committee meetings and publicise on all appropriate communication channels, including the national UNISON website, U Magazine, In-Focus and E-Focus. The information must also be circulated to Regions and Branches;

5. Report back to the 2015 National Retired Members Conference on action taken and actual achievements.

COMPOSITE. C THREAT TO THE BUS PASS AND UNIVERSAL BENEFITS

(Motions 10 and 11 and amendment 11.1)

Carried

Conference is very concerned that the concessionary bus pass for pensioners is being attacked and no political party has stated that it will be retained after the 2015 election.

Withdrawing the bus pass from pensioners will need another Act of Parliament (original Transport Act 2008) but that won’t stop this Government or any other one from passing an Act to withdraw it after the 2015 General Election.

One of the main benefits of the bus pass is social inclusion which contributes to keeping well physically and mentally by allowing pensioners to travel in England without worrying about the cost. Contacts with families and friends, engaging with community related activities and reducing the likelihood of isolation contributes to supporting the Department of Health’s goals of ‘social inclusion’ and ‘better health through exercise and stimulation’.

The use of buses by older people has ensured, in some cases, that routes are retained for the fare paying public, particularly in rural areas. Bus services are run as commercial ventures and grants and subsidies to bus companies are crucial to their profits. Without them, more services will be cancelled. This would have a particularly devastating impact on the elderly, leading to greater isolation and would be harmful to the local economy.

Therefore, this UNISON National Retired Members Conference instructs the National Retired Members Committee and calls on the National Executive Council to:

1.Campaign urgently to make our concerns known to the Government through LabourLink, national and regional branches of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the STUC, local Trades Councils, by lobbying MPs, and by supporting the National Pensioners Convention and the Scottish Pensioners’ Forum in their campaigns to fight for the retention of the bus pass for all eligible older people and the retention of all universal benefits;