Jenny Brown, UNISON Learning Co-ordinator, membership officer and a UNISON Learning Representative, won the 2015 Midlands TUC Union Learning Rep of the Year award for helping over 150 members to access learning opportunities in the past year and securing a learning agreement between the union and employer. 

In the last year Northamptonshire Police has faced unprecedented cuts to its staff. This has had a huge effect, leading to lower morale and a cut in staff training. In that time Jenny has stepped in and helped over 150 UNISON members onto various training opportunities, which has made a massive difference to them. Jenny is really proud that she has given members an opportunity in very uncertain times. With her relentless enthusiasm and organising skills Jenny assisted staff to complete a number of different learning activities. A number of staff completed the European Computer Driving Licence. Twenty staff completed skills network courses giving them qualifications in a relevant subject such as understanding equality and diversity, the certificate in nutrition and health, understanding diabetes, the certificate in mental health awareness and understanding dementia. Fourteen staff attended careers advice sessions and 12 members of staff attended interviews skills and CV writing training. 

In addition to formal courses, 56 staff took part in Adult Learning Taster courses including British Sign Language, maths homework help, Indian head massage and yoga. Thirteen staff attended lunch and learn sessions including sessions on dealing with sickness absence, supporting disabled workers and supporting older women workers. 

Jenny negotiated a learning agreement between UNISON and Northamptonshire Police that formally recognises the importance of learning as a development and retention tool. Jenny approached the service’s learning lead, Superintendent Dave Hill, who saw the value in such an agreement. It encourages managers to allow staff time off for what is perceived as non-essential training as the force recognises the value of developing staff and has helped staff to more easily secure paid time off to attend courses.

Funded by UNISON with the support of the ULF-backed Inclusive Learning Project, Jenny set up "learning zones" at key locations, one based within the UNISON office and another in Wellingborough. These are open to all members, with a quiet space for them to work or complete courses away from the workplace. Jenny has also set up software on the computers so that staff from the Dyslexia Network can utilise this quiet and discreet space for dyslexia screening, meaning that this can be done quickly in-house, removing the need to wait for external screening. 

Jenny is very passionate about personal development and wanted to give as many people as possible the opportunity to have access to learning, seeing it as an opportunity to help UNISON members and give them something extra for being in the union. 

Jenny said:

Since I became a learning coordinator we had such mass redundancies for the first time within Northamptonshire Police. While our members were going through these really worrying times we wanted to offer them something that their union could help them with, starting with CV writing, interview skills, confidence building and careers advice.

I saw how much of a positive result that had not just in the redundancy situation but through feedback from the members about union support in these unsure times. We wanted to take that further and from there we started offering various formal and informal courses and workshops on various topics from recreational to Level 2 IT qualifications. Forty nine members have completed IT, but there is still a waiting list for it.

We had the learning agreement signed in 2014, and now I am looking to update it to better suit members’ learning needs today. Last year we had 150 members going through courses, the year before about 200 and this year we are looking for the funding to fulfil our members learning demands and needs. Members are feeling very positive and constantly looking to update their skills. Learning is one of the things they really see as a positive aspect of their union membership."

As a union, UNISON is a very strong advocate for personal development and continuous learning and Jenny is a prime example of a person making this possible.