When you join Advance Union, you’re joining more than just a union – you join an extended community with thousands of other members, all with a common goal of improving their daily working lives.

Our representatives are the beating heart of the union and offer a friendly and sympathetic ear to ensure they speak on behalf of those they represent at work. They are there to listen when things are not going so well and provide robust support. We have many workplace representatives who complement our professional consultants across the country.

Our helpline team provides confidential advice, information, and guidance. Professional consultants support more complex issues where formal representation is needed.

We are a forward-thinking, modern trade union that believes there is a right way to achieve results – and that it is through constructive relationships with employers and other collaborations. By keeping the lines of communication open, even when we disagree, which can often be, we believe there is often common ground. We can ensure Advance Union and Santander can usually overcome our differences with commitment.

With so many members, Santander sees Advance Union as a strategic partner. The more members we have, the stronger we are when negotiating about the things that matter to you. We believe we can do better to influence employers with more members, which is one reason why joining and strengthening your voice at work is essential.

Our members trust us with two primary responsibilities:

The collective representation of members‘ when negotiating with their employer. The most obvious of these negotiations usually occur annually. Yes, we are talking about the annual pay review! We know this is important to you, but it also includes consultation on other critical matters such as job security and policy.

Individual representation of members in formal procedures. This includes grievance, attendance, performance, or disciplinary meetings. Our highly skilled and knowledgeable consultants ensure you are treated fairly and will hold your hand if you ever need to have formal representation from your union.

There are many other benefits to Advance membership – check out the benefits section on this page.

Advance Union membership is excellent value for money at £6.70 per month and is taken by direct debit on the 19th of each month.  The cost per day of 22p is much less than the price of a coffee!  Don’t forget you can also join the member’s draw when signing up at £1 per ticket its a fabulous bit of fun with a chance to win up to £1000 every month.

Yes, if you work for one of the following employers, primarily subsidiaries of  Banco Santander Group in the UK.

• Santander UK
• Santander Consumer Finance
• Santander Financial Services (International)
• Gesban
• Santander London Branch
• Aquaiama
• Santander Asset Management inc Allfunds
• Hyundai Capital
• Volvo Capital
• NewDay ltd

If you don’t work for one of the employers listed above and are an existing Advance Union member, you are also covered for general help and guidance.  We strongly recommend you find a new union in your new workplace.

If you are not a trade union member and work for another employer, check with your work colleagues to see if your employer is an existing recognised union or find a union that is best suited to your workplace via the Trade Union Congress.

Help the trade union movement grow and thrive.

You can join Advance Union online in less than 5 minutes – all we need is a little more information, and you need your bank details, and you’re all set.

  Click here to  Join today online.

Alternatively, give  our helpline team a call and sign up over the phone on 01442 891122

We can support you in many ways, and getting in touch with us is easy.

• For any queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch with full confidence by clicking here to complete our online form.
• You can also speak to our helpline team on 01442 891122 (Monday-Friday 9:00-17:00).
• Have you been invited to a meeting? Complete a representation request form.

We are independent, meaning our entire decision-making structure is selected and elected by our members only, not anyone in Santander.

Everyone from the General Secretary to workplace representatives acts for you and not your employer; this is an essential consideration for members when choosing a union, which means we focus our efforts on supporting members without constraints.

Advance Union had to demonstrate independence from any other legal body by following a robust process with the Mainland UK and Northern Ireland Government-appointed certification officer in 1977. We also have an independent audit annually to ensure we have been meeting our legal obligations to our members.

Santander is respectful of our independence and understands we will not always agree, although we will try and find common ground and keep the dialogue open.

We’re not affiliated with any political party and don’t have a political levy.

Advance Union are affiliated with the TUC, the Scottish, and the Wales TUC. We’ve been involved in broader worker campaigns through our work with the TUC. In addition, the TUC provide Advance Union with rich resources such as TUC representative training along with data and information that supports any campaigns our members say are important to them.

We are also part of other bodies that help us share information with similar trade unions. One of them is the Alliance for Finance, an association which allows us to talk to trade unions in our sector. These help us to understand industry trends and help us to evaluate matters our members are saying they wish to progress as well as our position on the issues that Santander may table.

Everything we do is in the interests of our members.

All representatives are elected, from the General Secretary down to your workplace representatives, focused on being your voice at work.

We hold many drop-in Sessions, Webinars and complete surveys to fully understand our member’s voices and act as one collective democratic voice at work.

Democracy is a crucial principle for us, like any union, and we use all our tools to listen to our members.

Where election processes occur, an independent scrutineer is appointed to ensure the process is run correctly.

Of course, you can, but we can only offer new members who join with an existing issue telephone advice. You will be entitled to representation if needed after three months of subscription.

To log in to your profile, simply got the top of the screen.  You can also click here

This would be your current staff number Beginning with E and 7 digits.

You can update your personal, employment, direct debit and equality details, and communication preferences once you’ve logged in to the website.

Some changes will take effect immediately, but others may need administrative approval – so don’t worry if you don’t see the changes immediately.

You can do this in our member’s area.

Simply login to your profile, go to the ‘payment details’ section and select ‘edit’ next to the payment.

Here, you can select the number of tickets you’d like (you can buy up to 5 tickets every month, costing just £1 each).

Once you’ve saved your changes, it may take a few days to process and display on your account as an administrator will need to approve the request.

The total amount for your lottery tickets will be added to your monthly membership payment, usually in the next calendar month.

All prize winners are notified within 21 days of the payment being taken via email. The winnings are paid to members by bank accounts by transfer, usually within four weeks.

If you want to double-check if you’ve ever won, give our membership team a call, and they can check your record: 01442  891122

We also publish results on our website regularly, although we don’t share winners’ names, just location and business area to comply with GDPR.

Cancelling your membership means saying goodbye to protection at work and access to your Advance Union benefits package.

If you’re retiring, you can stay with us as a “Retained Member”. You’ll still be able to use the benefit schemes, and we’ll continue to provide updates on Advance in the usual way.

Of course, we know many of our members may wish to move on to another union that better represents them with their new employer, which we understand.

To cancel online, please go to the leaver’s page here.