In addition to having support at work, UNISON offers many additional benefits to members and their families.
Legal services for members and their family
As a UNISON member, you can receive free legal advice and assistance for the following. Please note that these services are only provided to UNISON members, and not their family.
- Employment law (accessed via the branch office and/or your workplace UNISON representative)
- Personal injury – at or away from work, on holiday or on the roads
- Serious injury at work – including brain injuries and spinal cord injuries
- Industrial disease or illness
- Basic will writing and reduced rates for more complex wills and conveyancing
- Defending work related criminal allegations
- Free initial legal advice on any non-work issue. This service entitles you to receive up to 30-minutes of telephone advice. This must relate to you personally and not a family member. The scheme does not cover general financial advice.
In addition, your family are covered for the following:
- Personal injury – away from work, on holiday or on the roads
- Reduced rates for wills and conveyancing
To access UNISON legal services that are not work-related, for you or your family please call our legal helpline on 0808 252 2783 or use the online contact form. Please quote your membership number if possible as this will speed up the process.
For all work-related matters you must contact the branch office either by telephone to 01609 532317 or use the branch contact form.
Download our guide to legal services for members and their families
There For You (UNISON Welfare)
Members experiencing financial and emotional difficulties can contact our welfare service There For You, which provides a confidential support and advice service for members and their families.
Services available to members include:
A new budget planner to help budget your finances
Check your social security entitlements with our benefits calculator
General advice on personal and financial matters
Debt management help and advice
As part of your application to There For You, you might be asked to complete an application form and provide copies of recent bank statements and pay slips. We know that it can be hard to download bank statements these days, we have found a handy guide which explains how you can do this for most major banks.
How to download bank statements as a PDF
UNISON Free Wills Service
UNISON offers a free standard wills service for members and their partners (if doing a mirror will). We also offer reduced rates for members’ complex wills.
The simplest way to obtain your will is to use our bespoke on line wills service.
Access UNISON’s free will service
UNISON’s online wills service is very straightforward to use, just complete the online questionnaire. The questionnaire with its online guidance will carefully take you through the process.
We have also negotiated a low-cost wills service for members and their families.
Thompsons Solicitors – our legal partners
Thompsons Solicitors are our legal partners who provide all our legal services to members. Founded 100 years ago in 1921, Thompsons only represent the injured or mistreated persons in claims, which means they never represent the employers or the insurance companies.
Download a review of Thompsons 100 year history