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Unison members resolved to campaign against the formation of care trusts at the union’s local government conference, writes Katie Leason.

They voted in favour of a motion stating that there is no need to pursue care trust status in order for social services staff to develop closer working with health colleagues.

They resolved to promote the alternative mechanisms of closer working that do not require members to transfer out of local authority employment, and for Unison to organise a co-ordinated national campaign against care trusts that includes support for appropriate industrial action.

Earlier Owen Davies, Unison’s national officer for social services, said that ministers’ enthusiasm for care trusts presented a blow to workers’ morale. Describing them as a "mechanism" to place social services under NHS control, he congratulated branches for campaigning effectively and called on members to continue to campaign against care trusts.

Unison members also voted unanimously in favour of a motion concerning the crisis in social care, urging ministers to make sure that funding for social services is increased at a rate that ensures services can be protected and improved, staff can be paid decent wages, and social services can make decisions about service provision free from the financial pressures which drive them towards contracting out.