Southampton City Council Commits to UNISON Care Charter

  • The council’s Labour team pledge to sign UNISON’s Ethical and residential care charters on May 7th
  • Announcement made in Labour’s manifesto pledges for upcoming election
  • Council will be first in country to sign up to Residential Care Charter

 

Southampton City Council will join local authorities nationwide in signing up to UNISON’s Ethical Care Charter, and will be the first in the country to sign up to the Residential Care Charter.

The announcement was made as one of the Southampton and Romsey Labour Party’s manifesto pledges in the run up to the May local election

The signing of the charters will take place at 13:25 on Monday May 7th at the annual May Day event in Palmerston Park, hosted by the Southampton Trades Council, Unite Community, and the People’s Assembly. Southampton City Cllr Warwick Payne (Woolston) and Council Leader Simon Letts (Bitterne) will join UNISON Southampton District Branch Secretary, Hayley Garner, and UNISON’s Head of Local Government, Heather Wakefield.

Southampton District Branch Secretary, Hayley Garner, said:

“The Labour Council’s commitment to UNISON’s Care Charters shows real intent to making working lives better for care workers in both private and local authority care services. We will work tirelessly to ensure that the content of the charters is reflected in the working conditions of Southampton’s care workers.”

Cllr Warwick Payne, Cabinet member with the portfolio for Housing & Adult Care, said:

“The Labour Party was founded on the principal that a good day’s work deserves a good day’s pay and we’re still committed to those values. By signing the Unison charters, the Labour Party in Southampton is giving its clear commitment that care staff should have fair terms and conditions and we believe this will lead to improved care services for the elderly and vulnerable.

“Care workers have long been undervalued as a profession. We want to play our part in changing that by working in partnership with organisations such as Unison to bring about a better deal for everyone involved.”

Charters signal intent to improve working lives of care staff

The Ethical and Residential Care Charters were created in 2012 and 2017 respectively, after UNISON surveyed over 1,000 members working across the sector. The content of the charters is what UNISON believes to be fair terms and conditions for those working in homecare and residential care. For more information on the charters, and to see the harrowing statistics from our survey, follow the links below.

Ethical Care Charter: https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2013/11/On-line-Catalogue220142.pdf

Data from 2012 survey that informed the Ethical Care Charterhttps://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2013/11/On-line-Catalogue220152.pdf

Residential Care Charter: https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2017/03/24230.pdf

Data from 2017 survey informing Residential Care Charterhttps://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2017/06/residential-care-summary.pdf

 

UNISON Southampton District media contacts:

Branch Secretary, Hayley Garner

T: 023 8083 2740 E: branchsecretary@unisonsouthampton.gov.uk

Local Organiser, Ben Martin

T: 020 121 5555 M: 07518 340093 E: ben.martin@southampton.gov.uk

Twitter: @SotonUNISON

Facebook: /SotonUNISON