Hardship Fund

Essex County Branch Unison has an industrial action hardship fund. The fund will be administered by up to 4 members of the branch committee, including Branch Secretary and Branch Treasurer. Claims in respect of the strike action taking place on 16th and 17th July 2008, by current UNISON members, can be made in confidence to the Branch Treasurer. A financial report will be made to the branch committee of claims authorised. This will not include information confidential to the claimant.

Any applicants who are in receipt of a means tested benefit such as income support, working family tax credit, housing benefit or disabled working tax credit are eligible for consideration of assistance. However we will accept claims from applicants not in receipt of any benefit.

Claims will be made on a case by case basis and we will take into account earnings, other income and priority expenditure. Income should be compared to normal expenditure for the purpose of assessing claims.

We will accept claims from the 17th July to 1st September 2008 in respect of strike action taken on 16th and 17th July. Claims must be accompanied by the member’s payslips (or photocopies) showing the loss of earnings.

The amount that we will authorise will take into account, the total number of claims received. We do not guarantee to meet all claims received from members but we do guarantee that each claim will be considered.

Only hardship that is a direct consequence of the dispute can be addressed through the branch industrial action hardship fund – other hardship claims can be made to UNISON Welfare.

Please note that it is not appropriate to use the industrial action hardship fund to meet credit commitments, e.g. store/credit cards, loan payments etc. UNISON Welfare operates a free debt advice service and can give guidance on how to deal with late/delayed payments etc. Members may access the free phone service direct by contacting 0800 389 3302.

The Branch encourages members to donate to the industrial action hardship fund – contributions should be sent to branch office marked ‘industrial action hardship fund’ (cheques payable to Essex County Branch UNISON.)

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