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Shelter pay dispute ends as staff accept new offer
Staff at the housing charity Shelter have accepted an improved pay offer, which has brought the long-running dispute to an end, Unite the Union has said.
Last month, around 600 Unite members at Shelter started a two-week strike over pay, which affected the charity’s London head office and 13 other sites.
However, the action was abandoned early after Shelter put forward an improved offer.
The new offer, which has been accepted following a ballot of Unite members, is a 7% pay increase and an extra one-off payment of £1,250 for each employee. The increase incorporates 3% paid from 1 April 2022 and an extra 4% paid from 1 December 2022.
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Shelter had previously offered a 3% rise, which Unite said represented a real-terms pay cut of 11% based on the rate of inflation.
Sharon Graham, general secretary at Unite, said: “This was a significant result – our members were prepared to stand together in unity and by doing so were able to secure a greatly improved pay increase.”
Tim Gutteridge, director of strategy enablement at Shelter, said: “We are pleased that, after reaching an agreement with the union, members of the union have voted to accept the pay offer and the dispute has been resolved.”
Based on Charity Commission records, Shelter had 1,335 staff to the year ending March 2021.
The charity’s income was £72.9m, which included donations, government contracts and government grants. Its expenditure was £71.6m.
Shelter is accredited as a Living Wage Employer, which means it currently voluntary agrees to pay a minimum rate of £10.90 an hour in the UK and £11.95 in London.
