care – Unite CEC Branch

SSSC fees update

As won by the strike action of August 2022, councils will now pay Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) fees for local government workers across Scotland. These are mandatory fees for workers in social care that must be paid each year, so this victory puts money back in the pockets of, often low paid, workers.

The SSSC are working on how

registration will work going forward
they will refund those that have paid since 1 April 2022.

We will update here as soon as we hear details of refunds. Read below for how registrations will work.

New registrations

You will still have to re-register each year, but you will not pay a fee. When registering online select the option ‘I work for a local authority (local council)’.

The MySSSC payment screen will soon encourage local government workers not to pay a fee. In future MySSSC will recognise that you are a local government worker and not ask for a fee.

SSSC won’t issue invoices for fees due in December. Instead, they will send an email advising they do not need to pay a fee.

September demo to #SaveOurCareHomes

Unite give a deputation to the EIJB at the City Chambers to protest care home closures

On 28 September, the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board met to discuss plans to change Drumbrae Care Home to a hospital based complex clinical care unit (HBCCC) and to close the NHS-run community hospital at Ferryfield.

The Council trade unions organised demos throughout the day with the support of community activists and Labour councillors. Once again, Unite gave a deputation to the EIJB to speak out against cuts to publicly owned-residential care homes, the unaccountable nature of the EIJB and the lack of consultation with staff, residents and citizens. Watch Unite’s deputation in the Council’s webcast or read it below.

Demo to #SaveOurCareHomes on 28 September

The campaign to save Council-run continues, with the next big date for your diary as Tuesday 28 September at 2pm for the next demo at the City Chambers, to coincide with the next meeting of the Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB).

See the Facebook event for the demo as organised by Another Edinburgh is Possible for 9.30am. Unite members will hold a demo at the new time of the EIJB meeting 2pm, Tuesday September 28th outside the City Chambers.

Read about the Save Our Care Homes campaign for details of the proposals and the fight so far.

Read on for an update.

Help #SaveOurCareHomes!

If you can’t make the demo, you can still help by

Do your election candidates support Unite’s care manifesto?

Unite have created a great tool to help you contact the election candidates in your area to ask if they support Unite’s care manifesto. Using your postcode, the tool automatically finds your candidates and lets you email them all, with Unite’s email template, in one go.

Contact your candidates today.

The manifesto’s five demands are:

A properly funded and publicly owned National Care Service which involves participation from the trade unions and local government.
A minimum of £15 an hour for all social care workers.
A minimum floor of terms and conditions for all social care workers which includes two 30 mins paid rest breaks, access to enhanced sick pay and consistent provision of pensions.
The establishment of collective bargaining in all areas of social care services including the third sector and private sector.
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) registration fee to be fully funded by the Scottish Government.