News

Prospect National Conference 2026: Sunday motions

7 June 2026

Each day at National Conference the delegates, comprised of more than 400 reps across each of Prospect’s different sectors, will be debating and voting on motions to set the union’s policies for the next two years.

Members can download the Conference Agenda, which includes the full wording of all motions up for debate, as well as the voting rules and procedures, from the Prospect and Bectu Libraries.

On Sunday, Conference debated and voted on:

Pensions

Motion 10

Defined Benefit Pension Provision for New Joiners and Defined Contribution Pension Scheme Members (submitted by Dounreay branch)

Conference instructs the National Executive Committee:

To launch a sustained national campaign calling for the establishment of a defined benefit pension scheme for:

all new joiners to site licence companies within the NDA Group and other Civil Service ABLs; and,
all current members enrolled in a defined contribution scheme who wish to transfer.

To engage directly with the NDA Group (including its subsidiary site licence companies) and the UK Government to negotiate and secure agreement on implementing access to a defined benefit pension scheme for all employees subject to the constraints of the Civil Service Pay Remit.

CARRIED

Motion 11

Uprating of employee pension contribution band thresholds across schemes where tiered bands apply (Met Office)

Conference instructs the National Executive Committee to:

Adopt as union policy that, in all pension schemes covering Prospect members where tiered employee contribution bands exist, the thresholds for each band should be uprated at least annually in line with inflation (or an equivalent agreed index) and adjusted where required to reflect structural pay movement.

CARRIED

Health and Safety

Motion 12

Cancer policy and training resources (EFRA)

Conference instructs NEC via the Equal Opportunities Advisory Committee and Health and Safety Committee to work with reps (including Equality and H&S reps) from interested Branches e.g. EFRA to develop a best practice Cancer Policy template for the workplace as a national resource for engaging employers, as well as develop training resources to support reps in this subject area, in collaboration where possible with Cancer charities.

CARRIED

Social and Public

Motion 37

Heritage and Culture funding (Historic England)

Conference instructs the NEC to extend lobbying of Government to increase Grant in Aid funding to Heritage and Culture Sector’s Organisations and Employers.

CARRIED

Motion 38

Tackling tax avoidance by multinational corporations (Writers, Producers and Directors)

Conference instructs the NEC to ensure that the union lobbies the UK government to press harder for Organisation for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) tax changes to ensure multinational corporations pay tax on a country-by-country reporting basis, rather than transferring profits to tax havens and costs to national economies they profit from.

CARRIED

Motion 39

Increase income tax thresholds (EDF Energy)

This conference instructs the NEC to lobby the government to not wait until April 2031 to increase income tax thresholds.

CARRIED

Motion 40

Trade unions in the community – defeating the growth of the far right (Channel Four)

This Conference instructs the NEC to do the following:

Continue to support the Together Alliance and its aims.
Organise educational and training events to give union representatives the tools to challenge the hate speech narratives of the Far Right against protected groups.
Encourage affiliation and delegates to local Trades Councils.
Engage in inter-union discussions to identify priority communities to (a) re-establish lapsed Trades Councils and establish new ones and (b) support the growth of community organisations with local union support.

CARRIED

Motion 41

TUC must urgently recommit to disability cuts action (Tech Workers)

Conference instructs the NEC to:

Launch a coordinated campaign against the cuts, highlighting their disproportionate and cumulative impact on disabled people.
Organise an accessible static demonstration and lobby of parliament in support of disabled workers.
Organise a weekend demonstration against Labour austerity as a launchpad for sustained trade union action in defence of workers and young people.
Support calls for an independent disability review, democratically led by disabled people and their organisations including trade union representatives.

REMITTED

Motions 42 and 43 were heard in Common Debate

Motion 42

Ending Inflation-Driven Student Debt Escalation (UK Power Networks)

Conference instructs the NEC to:

Engage with the relevant bodies to highlight the harmful impact of inflation-driven interest on our members and early-career professionals.
Press for greater transparency in how student loan interest rates are calculated and communicated.
Advocate for reform so that repayments reduce debt rather than allow it to accelerate.

CARRIED

Motion 43

Forgive Student Loan Debts (Post Production and Facilities)

Conference instructs the NEC to:

Write a letter to the government demanding the forgiveness of all student loans still left unpaid, and to radically rethink how higher education is financed in order to be accessible and to meet the needs of modern society.

REMITTED

Motion 44

Paid leave to care for sick dependents (Met Office)

This Conference instructs Prospect National Executive Committee to:

Launch a campaign nationally for a change in the law to provide paid leave for all working people when they’re unable to work due to caring for sick dependents.
Use the evidence gathered from the campaign to Lobby government on this issue.

CARRIED

Motion 45

Industrial Strategy (NEC)

Conference instructs the National Executive Committee to:

Engage with the government, devolved authorities, local Mayors, sector councils, employers, and training organisations to develop workplace plans. Prospect should encourage coordination between sectors to prevent disjointed skills interventions where there is a direct competition for similar skills.
Promote workers’ voice as a key component of the delivery of a successful industrial strategy. Government-led procurement policies and investment decisions should include conditionality clauses to promote the benefits of trade union membership.
Ensure that equalities is integrated into industrial bargaining making full use of statutory equalities reps to support branch negotiations. The union should work with employers to address barriers to recruitment in male dominated industries and support the recruitment of a more diverse workforce.
The National Organising Unit shall work with branches to identify opportunities for union recruitment in the sectors identified by the industrial strategy, particularly the creative industries, clean energy, and defence.

CARRIED

Pay and Employment

Motions 28, 29 and 30 were heard in Common Debate.

M28 International workers (NEC)

Conference instructs the NEC to establish a programme of work to develop and leverage our advocacy for international workers in particular, and for better functioning international industrial partnerships.

CARRIED

M29 Immigration advice (Tech Workers)

Conference instructs the NEC to:

Work with Prospect’s legal team to explore how to help members understand their immigration rights. This could take a similar format to how the union provides financial advice through a partner organisation.
Scope the feasibility, cost, and demand for in-house immigration-related legal casework guidance, training and support.
Seek to engage with any government consultations on immigration policy.

CARRIED

M30 Visa and settlement rules (Diamond Light Source)

Conference instructs the NEC to:

Lobby for a revised assessment framework with exemptions or alternative pathways for international specialists, moving beyond salary-only criteria and considering comparative practices in other OECD member states
Advocate strongly for extended “grandfathering” / transitional protections so that workers already in the UK on Skilled Worker routes are not retrospectively disadvantaged by new income or ILR rules.
Campaign publicly to highlight the essential contribution of international specialists to research, innovation, regulation, infrastructure, and national resilience.
Coordinate a sector wide response with the TUC to advocate for a fair, evidence based immigration and settlement system.
Establish a dedicated support network and designated contact point for Prospect members on visas.

CARRIED

Motion 31

Bargaining Together in the Civil Service (UKAEA)

Conference instructs the National Executive Committee to:

Lobby government to negotiate the civil service pay remit with trade unions.
Contact other civil service unions to try to convince them to adopt and cooperate in achieving this goal.
Organise to seek to increase membership density across the civil service and educate all members on the need for the civil service pay remit to be negotiated with unions.
Produce a report detailing strategies, up to and including industrial action, which could persuade the government to participate in these negotiations. The report should assess the likely level of government opposition, the power different strategies would have to overcome this, and the time and resources each strategy would require.

REMITTED

Motion 32

Establish resources to support campaign for reduced working hours without loss of pay (UKAEA)

Conference instructs the National Executive Committee to:

Provide dedicated resources to support branches campaigning for reduced working hours without loss of pay.
Assign researchers and other co-ordinators to support campaigns for reduced working hours without loss of pay as required.
Establish a quarterly reduced working hours without loss of pay forum. This forum would allow Prospect branches to communicate and collaborate on individual and collective campaigns for reduced working hours without loss of pay.

CARRIED

Motions 33 and 34 were heard in Common Debate.

M33 Impact of Economic Regulation (Air Traffic Control Officers)

This conference deplores that economic regulators should directly impact… specific terms and conditions and these should be for the employer and the recognised trade union to negotiate on, not for the regulator to cherry pick terms and conditions it deems are too expensive. The NEC is instructed to work with the General Secretary’s office to use Prospect’s influence to counter such practices by economic regulators.

CARRIED

M34 Regulatory intervention in Terms and Conditions of Employment (Air Traffic Systems Specialists)

Conference instructs the National Executive Committee to raise concerns with Government that Economic Regulatory bodies should not over-reach their powers by attacking specific employment terms and seek to ensure that future settlements do not determine the terms and conditions for Prospect members where the employers are subject to economic regulation.

CARRIED

Motion 35

Opposition to Offshoring and Protecting Public Sector Jobs (Channel Four)

This Conference instructs the NEC to do the following:

Formally oppose the offshoring of services in the public sector and raise concerns directly with employers seeking to offshore its workers
Lobby the government for protections for workers against offshoring and regulations on offshoring, especially for those in the public sector.

CARRIED

Motion 36

Extending Paternity / Partner Leave to Tackle Workplace Inequality (National Lottery Community Fund)

Conference instructs the NEC:

To urge employers across our sectors to adopt enhanced paternity and partner leave policies that genuinely incentivise uptake by second parents, rather than relying solely on existing statutory entitlements that remain significantly underused.
To lead lobbying efforts – on behalf of the union – calling on government and policymakers to reform paternity and partner leave legislation in order to tackle gender inequality, including the gender pay gap and the gender pension gap.
To work with the wider union to strengthen awareness among members of the crucial link between paternity/partner leave, caring responsibilities, and workplace inequality, ensuring this forms part of our broader equality campaigning.

CARRIED

Subscriptions

Motions 13, 14 and 15 were heard in Common Debate. If Motion 13 passes, Motion 14 falls.

M13 Bectu Subscriptions (NEC)

Conference… instructs the NEC to reduce the top of the Bectu band by £1.25 and reduce the bottom band by £0.85 on 1 January 2027, thereby bringing the Bectu ladder back into sync and ensuring that the steps are consistent.

Furthermore, Conference instructs the NEC to reduce the Bectu bands by £0.50 on 1 January 2028 and each year thereafter until such time as the Bectu and Prospect bands equate to circa 0.55% of salary.

CARRIED

M14 Financial transparency and membership fee parity within 3 years (Carpenters)

BECTU is merely another sector of Prospect and has been for nearly ten years, however, the membership fees of this sector are considerably more than those of the rest of our union…

Conference instructs the NEC to produce the financial justification for this huge extra annual revenue requirement, and to make concrete commitment to levelling up membership fees across our union within 3 years of this date.

FALLS

M15 Offer the same special discounted rate to Bectu members (London Live Events Network)

Conference instructs the NEC to offer the Prospect special discounted rate of £1.42/month to Bectu members who are unemployed or, in the case of freelancers, are in a prolonged period of not having work.

CARRIED

Motions 16 and 17 were heard in Common Debate.

M16 Membership subscriptions (Ofcom)

Conference instructs the NEC to:

Study and adopt, where feasible, a more progressive membership dues system
Retain existing special rate, band 0, and retired rate membership options.
Use any increased income from the adoption of this more progressive membership dues system to bring members’ fees down in following years.

FALLS

M17 Prospect fees (Met Office)

Conference instructs the National Executive Committee to:

create at least one new higher pay band (e.g. Band 6) appropriately based on research and evidence, rather than passing all required increases on to the existing bands
minimise increases to the existing bands (keeping rates frozen if possible)
commit to having a mechanism to regularly review and uprate the band thresholds to avoid fiscal drag and protect members’ hard won pay increases.

CARRIED

Motion 18

Optional Progressive Subscription Fee ‘Top-up’ (Tech Workers)

Conference instructs the NEC to:

Allow new members to pay an optional ‘top-up’ above their banded subscription rates, opting in during the joining process.
Send communications to all existing higher earners, inviting them to opt-in to pay an optional ‘top-up’.
If a member opts in, the default total amount should be based on the members reporting earnings, and be set at a progressive rate. The ‘top-up’ amount should be customisable.
Allow all members to add, adjust or remove the optional ‘top-up’ from their members area.

FALLS

Motion 19

Membership fee discount for active branch representatives (Media hair, makeup & prosthetics)

Conference instructs the NEC to recognize the significant commitment and work our branch representatives carry out and implement a membership fee discount for active branch representatives.

FALLS

Motion 20

Strike Funds (Whitechapel Gallery)

Conference instructs the NEC to:

Develop a centralised strike fund funded based on a 50p per month contribution rate from each Prospect/Bectu member and further donations from inside and outside the union, to support staff through periods without pay due to industrial action;
Inform branch secretaries about these arrangements
Encourage the use of these funds through the industrial action preparatory procedures.

FALLS

Artificial Intelligence

Motion 21

Mitigating job losses caused by Artificial Intelligence (Writers, Producers and Directors)

This conference instructs the NEC to undertake or commission relevant research and to ensure that Prospect undertakes lobbying to press the UK government to consider the benefits of a basic income to help workers in sectors affected by artificial-intelligence-created job cuts to adjust.

CARRIED

Motion 22

Generative AI system development (Education and Children’s Services Group)

Conference instructs the NEC to:

advocate with partners (such as education trade unions, the Special Education Consortium
(SEC), and subject associations), for a holistic school curriculum reform that educates learners, teachers and educationists so that they have agency to master digital systems and organisations, and ensure informed, ethical and inclusive implementation.

CARRIED