Supporting members in their professional and working lives

Campaigning and organising

CSP activists ran more than ten workplace demonstrations across the country in support of a fair and significant pay rise for NHS staff. The CSP also provided new ways for members to get involved in our workplace campaigns. We ran three letter campaigns, with 500 members and supporters writing to more than 250 elected parliamentarians across the UK. 

Reps’ learning

The global pandemic saw the CSP continue to deliver digital training for stewards and safety reps. The CSP ran six online stewards induction courses and four online safety rep inductions throughout the year. These online training courses won a highly commended award at the TUC Communications Awards.

The NHS contract

The CSP negotiated and agreed new flexible working provisions with other healthcare trade unions and NHS employers. This significantly expanded NHS staff’s contractual rights to flexible working.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

As part of the This Is Not Working alliance, we pressured government to commit to a new duty on employers to protect staff from sexual harassment at work. The CSP also initiated a joint statement – ‘we demand safety, we demand justice’ – bringing unions together around a collective statement against male violence.   

CSP BAME network members fed into the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Anti-Racism Taskforce – tasked with shining a light on racial injustice in the workplace – through the TUC Black Workers Conference.

The CSP trialled a new equality rep role as a new addition to our workplace team. The new role aims to enhance the great work currently carried out by our stewards on equity, diversity and belonging issues.

Regional engagement 

CSP regional networks and country boards are managed by a core team of CSP members who voluntarily engage with the CSP membership locally, using online and in-person events and social media platforms to connect with the profession.

In 2021 they held 41 events for CSP members, embracing the post-pandemic shift in demand to more online events held at a variety of times in the day and evening according to what worked best for their members.

The topics of these events provided a variety of opportunities for members locally to broaden their understanding on CSP strategic aims (including workforce development, First Contact Physiotherapy, Community Rehabilitation and equity diversity and belonging) as well as topics linked to the ongoing effect of the pandemic.

• Work to engage members around equity, diversity and belonging included six events across three    regions (South East Coast, West Midlands, South Central and Wales).
• Several regional networks, including East of England and East Midlands, hosted events to showcase innovative local placements after practice based learning and a shortage of student placements was identified as a key issue.
• The CSP North East regional network welcomed CSP members to a webinar on health and wellbeing in May which sought to offer advice and support to members handling burnout and negative effects of the pandemic.
• The Northern Ireland country board hosted an event which focused on how physiotherapy roles and services have evolved during and since the pandemic.