Time to Care - UNISON Scotland

From 1st October 2016 social care workers should be be paid £8.25 per hour. Are you? #TimetoCare

Help UNISON enforce the Living Wage and Fair Work. Click here to fill in our Living Wage survey right now!

New Social Care Rights from 1 October as demanded by Scottish Government

• The Scottish Living Wage of £8.25 (£8.45 from 1 May 2017)
• Fair working conditions
• An effective voice for staff when negotiating with your employer
• Secure working arrangements
• Opportunities to advance your career in social care

All this should be embedded in the revised funding of the organisation you work for. Complete the survey and tell UNISON what’s happening ‘on the ground’.

Update at 21 December: The Scottish Government has identified £100 million to enable the increased rate of £8.45 per hour to be paid, from at least the 1st of May 2017, to care workers supporting adults in care homes and care at home / housing support settings and should now include, where it hasn’t already, adult day care workers and personal assistants through arrangements made where care is provided.

Sleepovers: In addition the Government and COSLA statement says: “as minimum sleepovers are compliant as per HMRC guidelines. As stated before, this is for a transitional period with the ambition being that all hours be paid at the rate of the Living Wage… We will continue to support partnerships and providers in reforming sleepovers and looking to sustainable models of care based on improving outcomes for individuals. As part of the resource for Living Wage £10m was identified for sleepovers.” Progress will be reviewed throughout the year.

If you work in social care and are not being paid the Living Wage – or if your terms and conditions have been altered as a result of receiving the Living Wage – then you need to let us know.
Click here to tell us about it right now using our fast survey.

Time to Care News

Impact of backdating date on the Scottish Living Wage

5 December 2018

Dear Member UNISON understands how important a fair pay deal is to you, which is why we continue to fight ...

UNISON stewards meet to discuss Cornerstone decision to derecognise

29 November 2018

Your UNISON stewards are meeting today to discuss Cornerstone's shameful decision to derecognise UNISON. We have listened to our members ...

UNISON statement on Cornerstone

29 November 2018

UNISON statement on Cornerstone decision to de-recognise. Deborah Clarke, UNISON Scotland head of community, said: “UNISON was informed of this ...

‘The tide is turning’ says UNISON as Scottish care workers vote overwhelmingly to reject charity’s pay offer

31 October 2018

UNISON members working at Scottish care charity, Cornerstone, have voted by a massive 92% to reject their employer’s pay offer ...

UNISON – Scottish government must act as public service workers face more than 40,000 violent incidents every year

19 October 2018

Public services union UNISON has called for action from the Scottish Government to “end the aggro” faced by council and ...

Serco evictions condemned: Herald letter from UNISON, SASW and academics

3 August 2018

We note with serious concern Serco’s stated intent to evict up to 300 people who have been told they cannot ...

UNISON says monitoring of home care services by Scotland’s councils still not good enough

27 June 2018

More than a year on since new guidance was introduced on social care procurement there has been little or no ...

Tackling the crisis in health and social care

19 June 2018

As the NHS gets ready to celebrate its 70th birthday on 7th July, conference slammed cuts to NHS funding since ...

More on Community and Voluntary Sector page

Reports and briefings

Voices from the sharp end

29 October 2014

We undertook a survey of health and local authority social work staff to find out their views on current proposals ... Read More

e-briefing: Health and social care integration regulations

20 October 2014

The principles of health and care integration are set out in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) Act 2014. However, the ... Read More

Commission for the provision of Quality Care in Scotland

19 September 2014

UNISON Scotland has long campaigned for the quality of social care to be raised. We have been involved formally in ... Read More

Draft Regulations relating to Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act – Set 2 response

3 July 2014

There appears to be total disregard for the Staff Governance Standard within the document and there was an expectation that ... Read More

Draft Regulations relating to Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Act Set 1 response

3 July 2014

As far as we can see there is nothing in these regulations that refer to the Chief Officer of the ... Read More

Briefing 55: Bargaining – Health and social care integration regulations – Set 2

20 June 2014

KEY POINTS: These regulations (set 2) implement the Scottish Government’s plans for health and social care integration They prescribe which ... Read More

Briefing 53: Bargaining – Health and social care integration regulations – Set 1

27 May 2014

KEY POINTS: These regulations implement the Scottish Government’s plans for health and social care integration They prescribe what information must ... Read More