Police and justice

We protect you so that you can do your job protecting others

We help and support individual members who face difficulties at work; we negotiate pay and conditions; we campaign on behalf of workers to protect jobs, services, health and safety and equalities. We want public services to remain in the public sector.

We are proud to represent your best interests and to fight for the recognition you deserve for the essential public services you provide.

With our collective voice, we call for change on the big issues affecting your working life. We negotiate on your behalf and bargain for better working conditions and fair pay. We provide expert support when you need it. We support your local rep in your workplace and our activists across our sector. And we campaign for safe and effective services for our communities. 

Who we represent

We’re here for people who carry out vital work within:

• police forces in England and Wales;
• Police Scotland;
• the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Services in England (Cafcass);
• the Probation Service in England and Wales;
• private companies working in police and probation services. 

We promote and defend the rights of our members. We work to raise employment standards and promote best practice in partnership with employers.

How we support you

When you join UNISON in police and justice you will become a member of a local UNISON branch:

• police branch;
• probation branch;
• local government branch.

CAFCASS members are part of our North-West Probation and CAFCASS branch.

In each UNISON region we have a regional police and justice committee to bring together representatives from police and probation to make sure that members’ interests are being addressed.

Negotiating for better pay and conditions

UNISON organises at a branch, regional and national level to address our members’ needs. We then use our collective voice and our strength in numbers to negotiate for better pay and conditions. We negotiate/speak for you at:

• Cafcass joint negotiating and consultative forum;
• Police Covenant Board;
• Police Scotland;
• police staff council for England and Wales;
• the Probation Service joint negotiating committee;.

Benefits of membership

Besides negotiating for better pay and conditions and campaigning against privatisation and budget cuts at a national level, we also help our members individually with:

• redundancy;
• disciplinary action;
• grievances;
• Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigations;
• Police Post Incident Procedures (PIP);
• Serious Further Offence investigations in probation.