Hull and East Riding Citizens Advice staff to walk out over pay dispute

Union members in Hull during strike action in July

More than 60 Citizens Advice staff in Hull and East Riding are set to walk out next week in a dispute over pay.

Workers will strike on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of the union Unite, said many of the workers were on "poverty pay".

A Citizens Advice spokesperson said a pay settlement was offered amid financial constraints when workers first walked out in July.

The strike began after the charity, which offers people financial and legal advice, refused to increase pay in line with scales used in previous years, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Citizens Advice Hull and East Riding workers at their picket line outside The Wilson Centre in Hull city centre, on 31 July

Unite said the charity could afford the consolidated payment of £1,925 to workers on all grades for 2022 which was recommended by National Joint Council (NJC) scales.

The union added administration staff had seen a real term pay cut of 27% over the last decade, falling from £5,000 above the minimum wage to 40p above it.

Ms Graham said: "It is appalling behaviour from an organisation that clearly has the cash reserves to pay."

Hull and East Riding Citizens Advice's spokesperson said they were aware that the charity's staff were not immune to the cost of living crisis.

The spokesperson said: "We put forward what we believe to be an affordable pay offer within the financial and governance constraints we're working under.

"Nevertheless, we have listened and are in continued negotiations with the union who have a revised pay offer to put to its members, we await their response."