Employees of homelessness charity Shelter have voted to accept a reduced working hours deal after previously planning strike action over a breakdown in negotiations.
Last month, around 550 Shelter staff members voted to take industrial action after the charity withdrew from discussions over a potential four-day working week, which it deemed unviable.
Shelter offered a new deal at the start of the month, including a shortening of the working week from 37 hours to 35 hours, which workers represented by trade union Unite have now accepted.
Unite said the deal, effective from 1 January 2026, equates to a more than 5% pay rise and also includes two extra days of annual leave.
Strikes would have been ‘hugely disruptive’
The union’s regional officer Peter Storey said: “Christmas is a historically busy time of year for Shelter and any strike action would have been hugely disruptive to services.
“Through extensive negotiations, we were offered a much-improved deal which members overwhelmingly voted to accept.
“We are pleased to have avoided industrial action and look forward to working with management to negotiate further improvements to jobs, pay and conditions at Shelter.”
Shelter previously said that it hoped to agree a deal with employees before Christmas.
On the deal being agreed, its chief operating officer Tim Gutteridge said: “We are pleased that the agreement we had reached with union representatives on this year’s pay offer has now been accepted by all members.
“Our ambition has always been to compensate colleagues fairly while ensuring we can keep delivering our frontline and campaigning work.
“While we couldn’t offer a four-day week the trade union wanted, we have reached an agreement on reducing our working week to 35 hours, with no loss of pay.
“While we transition to these new ways of working, staff will continue to receive the same amount of annual leave as under the old system for a limited period. This will equate to two additional days of annual leave per year.
“What unites us at Shelter is a steadfast commitment to defending the right to a safe home, and that is what we will continue to do.”
Unite members at Shelter previously took strike action over the Christmas period in 2022 before accepting a pay offer the following January.
