Around 550 Shelter employees are being balloted for industrial action in a dispute over pay and working conditions, including its refusal to offer a four-day working week.
Shelter has offered staff a 1.5% pay rise for the current financial year, as well as a 7% reduction in weekly hours.
It has also offered a £210 one-off payment to 490 lower-paid staff and doubled death in service benefit from two to four years’ salary.
However, workers’ union Unite has criticised Shelter for withdrawing from discussions about potentially introducing a four-day week, which the homelessness charity said would not be viable.
Unite, which described the offer as a below-inflation pay rise, is balloting its members until 19 November, with strike action potentially beginning in early December.
Hundreds of workers at the charity previously held strikes in December 2022 before accepting a pay offer the following month.
Unite: ‘This is of Shelter’s own making’
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It is completely unacceptable for an anti-poverty charity such as Shelter imposing such an unfair deal on its staff, especially the lowest-paid, when it is in a very healthy financial position.
“Unite will not stand by and allow our members to be forced into taking a substantial real-terms pay cut, they will have our full backing throughout this dispute.”
The charity recorded an income of £81.3m and expenditure of £82.7m in the year to March 2024, £53.4m of which was spent on staff costs.
Unite regional officer Peter Storey said: “Shelter is guilty of attempting to impose such a miserable pay deal on staff and shutting down conversations around the four-day week.
“Any strike action will be very disruptive, but this is of Shelter’s own making. Management must come back to negotiations with an improved offer to avoid this.”
Shelter keen to agree deal before Christmas
Tim Gutteridge, chief operating officer at Shelter, said: “At Shelter and Shelter Scotland we strive to be a good employer and are proud to be an accredited real living wage (RLW) organisation.
“Like so many charities we are facing challenging economic times and increased running costs. Our ambition remains to fairly compensate our colleagues while ensuring we can continue to serve those worst affected by the housing emergency.
“We are disappointed after nine months of negotiations with Unite that we have not been able to agree on a pay deal. We believe it is right to now move forward and ensure a pay rise for colleagues before Christmas.
“All staff will receive a 1.5% pay increase, plus 490 of our lower paid colleagues will also receive a one-off payment of £210.
“In addition, as a real living wage employer, we will be implementing the latest RLW rate five months early so that our lowest paid staff receive an above inflation 6.7% pay rise in December.
“We remain open to further discussions on our offer of a reduction in weekly hours with no loss of pay, but we do not believe we can implement a four-day week without impacting jobs and the people we help.
“Industrial action is not the outcome we wanted but we fully respect people’s right to strike. We await the outcome of this ballot.”
One-day strike at animal charity
Meanwhile, workers at the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) have voted for strike action following a ballot earlier this year.
Unite members at the Scottish SPCA will take industrial action on 5 November after the union rejected a two-year pay offer from the charity, which it said amounts to a real-terms cut.
The union said the offer on average amounted to an increase of around 1.6% with some members having their pay frozen, with a one-off payment of around 2% tabled.
In a statement, the Scottish SPCA said 62 out of 139 Unite members at the charity had voted in favour of strike action, which equates to 14% of its paid workforce.
Editor's note: The quote from Shelter in this article was updated at 17:30 on 29 October 2025.
