Supporting People cuts lead to strike at English Churches

Cuts in the Supporting People programme are beginning to take their toll on social landlords, with English Churches Housing Group announcing that it cannot afford to give its staff a pay increase in line with inflation because of the cuts.

The association said that the £45m cuts to the £1.8bn programme, announced in February, plus further cuts revealed in September, meant it was unable to offer its staff more than a 2% pay rise (HT 20 February 2004, page 13).

As a result of the decision some 400 ECHG staff – who had been pressing for a 3% pay rise – took part in a one-day strike on Monday organised by the Transport and General Workers Union. The staff – who are spread across England and make up just under a quarter of ECHG’s 1500 workforce – have not ruled out future action if their demands are not met.

An ECHG spokeswoman said that the strike was unfortunate, but that all measures had been taken to ensure that tenants were fully provided for. “The challenge for us has been to maintain services as well as implement pay rises for our staff. But [since] the announcement that Supporting People funding would be moved from central to local government control, we have been aware that this would become increasingly difficult,” she said.

Paul Redgate, T&G’s regional industrial organiser, said: “We have been asking for a pay rise in line with inflation since last December. If ECHG had implemented this request before April 2004, a 2% rise would have been in line with inflation. Now they are facing a 3% rise.”

He added: “This strike was about alerting the employer that their staff are deeply unhappy. It was a symbolic day of action to show that they cannot in future rely on the goodwill of their staff and must pay them an appropriate wage.”

An ECHG employee said that future industrial action is still possible: “We care greatly about our tenants, who … are 100% behind us on our strike action. We don’t want to strike but we are being forced into it.”

Union officials and ECHG managers are due to meet again at the end of October, once ECHA has published its half-year financial review.

The Housing Corporation said that it was unable to comment and that it is an individual matter for housing associations to decide how they pay their staff.