Information Pack SECTION 15

Proposals for the provision of personal assistance/ facilitators

Detailed below are proposals being submitted by the Scottish Disabled Members Committee for the provision of Personal Assistance and Facilitation at meetings at Regional and Branch level and all UNISON events taking place in Scotland. It is noted that guidance is awaited from National level and will have to be taken cognisance of once it is received but proposals from the Scottish Disabled Members Committee is to endorse these in advance of the National document being available.

Please use this as a general guide until approval is given

Definition of Facilitation

Facilitators are likely to be employed or engaged by UNISON to provide services at meetings and events but are not there to give Personal Assistance to disabled members. Examples being Signers.

Facilitators will:

* Be available to give general non-personal assistance.

* Be available, if required to assist during meetings, meals and social activities. To carry bags, collect cups of tea/coffee, open doors, push wheelchair from one part of the venue to another. To assist in the selection of food.

* Facilitators will not be used in place of Personal Assistants under any circumstances, and will not be there to assist in toiletting or go to members' rooms in the event of it being a residential event.

Definition of Personal Assistant

In accordance with Motion 219 at the 1995 Conference any disabled member who requires Personal Assistance may choose their own Personal Assistant. A Personal Assistant can be engaged by the disabled member to offer Personal Assistance which can cover assisting the member when travelling, escorting during, to and around UNISON events, maintenance of aids, such as wheelchairs, charging battery etc, toiletting functions, transcribing reading, helping in and out of bed, chair, wheelchair, serving and cutting food, assisting with eating and drinking, assistance with dressing and undressing, general grooming, and any other associated and appropriate tasks.

Branch and Regional Responsibilities

At Branch and Regional level Personal Assistance and Facilitation should be made available and offered for all formal meetings and events of UNISON and the Branch and/or Region should respond positively to all such requests.

It is noted that to meet the costs of Personal Assistance and Facilitators, the Model Branch and Financial Rules need to be amended accordingly to outline Branch responsibilities.

Branches have a responsibility of meeting the costs providing Facilitators and Personal Assistance at all Branch meetings, and where the disabled member is representing the Branch.

It is noted that if any Branch has financial difficulty with this then they are entitled to seek additional retention to meet this cost.

# Separate guidance should be made available to Branches on how they should progress this.

# It is recommended that a Braille maker be purchased for use by the Scottish Region and its Committees and by Branches.

Branches are required to provide all documents in accessible format, eg large print, tape, braille if requested, signers at meetings etc. All of these should be offered when organising/arranging meetings/events.

# Consideration to be given to compiling a list of Providers across Scotland for such facilities. (as of April 1999 being actioned)

Branches should also be aware that they are likely to incur claims for additional travelling costs to meet disabled members requirements to attend meetings and again, they have a liability to meet this cost.

Branches should ensure that they arrange all meetings so that all members can participate. This will include offering Induction Loop at meetings, ensuring that the meeting is conducted with only one person speaking at a time, to take note of taking breaks when signers are engaged, providing spaces for guide dogs and wheelchair users ensuring they have full and proper access including wide enough passages for them to access the meeting and to be able to fully participate.

The general guidance given is that Branches should ask disabled members what their requirements are and respond positively.

Branches will have to make arrangements with the member on who will be responsible for arranging the Personal Assistant. It is recommended that the Personal Assistant be engaged by the member who will then submit a claim and payment made to the Personal Assistant as timeously as possible.

Regional Level

In considering this issue, a decision has to be taken on whether UNISON will act as the employer of the Personal Assistant or if the disabled member engages a Personal Assistant to provide a service.

# Recognising the difficulties that this question raises, the recommendation from the Scottish Disabled Members Committee is to await the decision at National level and that Scottish Region operate on the basis that the disabled member engages the Personal Assistant and is responsible along with the Personal Assistant in submitting a bona fide claim which will then be paid direct to the Personal Assistant.

To consider this issue further, it will be necessary to produce the following:-

* Code of Conduct for Personal Assistants and Facilitators.

* List of duties and responsibilities for Personal Assistants and people acting as Facilitators.

* That the Code and list of duties take note of UNISON Policies, eg on bullying and harassment, anti-racist etc.

* That in the event of a dispute there needs to be a clear process on how this will be resolved.

* Rates of remuneration for Personal Assistants.

* How claims are submitted and processed.

It is noted that at Scottish Regional level all Personal Assistants costs are met from the Scottish Council budget and set against the heading of `fees'.

It may be necessary to reconsider this issue and advice given to all appropriate budget holders.

Responsibilities of the Disabled Member in Engaging a Personal Assistant

The disabled member will have to be clear on what they expect of the Personal Assistant and on the potential duties/responsibilities that can be called upon (examples detailed earlier in paper). This should be dealt with in advance of the meeting/event.

The disabled member is responsible for dealing with any problems that may arise with the role of the Personal Assistant. These could be complaints being made on the conduct of the Personal Assistant by another member or member of staff. It will be the responsibility of the disabled member to try and deal with this matter immediately to resolve the difficulty. If this is not possible, either the original complainant or the disabled member approach the organiser of the meeting/function who should then be able, and given the autonomy, to deal with the matter including instructing the Personal Assistant to leave, if that is deemed appropriate. It is noted that this may also lead to the disabled member having to leave because the Personal Assistant's role prevents them staying on.

It is recognised that in these extreme circumstances, it may be necessary to follow this action up with looking at how to avoid it in the future and this may include not engaging that Personal Assistant in the future.

# It is recommended that a procedure is drawn up to deal with any follow up investigations.

There is a responsibility of the disabled member to give notice to the organiser of any meeting, if they are engaging a Personal Assistant and who this will be.

Payment

Personal Assistants can be used for core hours work and peripheral hours work, therefore, in line with UNISON's current National Policy, claims can be split into two main parts.

# The Scottish Disabled Members Committee is recommending that where residential events take place then core and peripheral hours have to be extended to look at overnight provision and services of a Personal Assistant.

# It is recommended that:-

Core Hours

These are the hours when a Personal Assistant works directly with a disabled member and the payment is made in quarter hours or multiples thereof.

Peripheral Hours

These are the times when a Personal Assistant is not
working directly with a disabled member but is on-call.

Night-time Rates

This will apply for Personal Assistants working eight-hour shifts who meet the following criteria:

i) Sleepover but not on-call - to be paid standard overnight rate of £35.00.

ii) Sleepover + on-call - with up to three calls in the night to be paid standard overtime rate, £50.00 plus core time for actual time worked.

iii) Night-time awake. This is when a Personal Assistant is either called more than three times or is required to be awake for the full time, and will be eligible for the daytime rate for core hours x 1.5.

Currently core hours attract £7.50 per hour and peripheral hours attract £5.00 per hour. It is noted that this rate has not gone up since 1995 and it may be appropriate to reconsider a suitable increase

# It is further recommended that appropriate travel and subsistence be included in claims. This needs to be discussed further.

Confidentiality

Facilitators and Personal Assistants will require to fulfil confidentiality, in that they cannot divulge any
conversations, discussions, material and paperwork that they are party to as a result of undertaking facilitation/personal assistants duties.

Involvement at Formal Meetings

Personal Assistants can only attend formal meetings when they are there to assist a disabled member and they cannot attend in the disabled member's absence.

Nor are they allowed nor can be invited to make comments or contributions on their own behalf. Informal sessions associated with UNISON business will be conducted in same way.

Social Events/ Time

Obviously there is nothing stopping Personal Assistants joining the company of members at social activities but this should be discussed and understood between the disabled member and the Personal Assistant.

Venue

In line with UNISON Policy, no meeting should take place in a venue that is inaccessible, ie for wheelchair users, visually impaired, deaf members etc. Before booking any venue this should by clarified.

# It is recommended that guidance be drawn up on a code for acceptable access. (As of April 1999 this has been actioned)

Decision

The Scottish Committee is asked to endorse this paper as a way forward for dealing with the provision of Personal Assistants and Facilitators within the Scottish Region at Regional and Branch level.

The Scottish Disabled Members Committee is prepared to draw up the various documents that are recommended in this paper.

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