Our pay campaign

Dear colleagues

“As a charity cash is our primary financial indicator, at £22.5m it is above the Trustee set range of £14m -£18m”

This is similar to the point that your Unite reps have been making about St Mungo’s finances throughout our pay campaign, with senior management sometimes suggesting we had misunderstood.

But this time, it’s not us saying it – the quote above comes from St Mungo’s financial report for 2021/22, in a statement signed by the Chair of the Board of Trustees. 

One of the reasons for the spare cash is the appallingly low pay award of only 1.75%, which was imposed at the NJC for 2021/22. No-one knew that the award was going to be so low, as inflation was already in double figures at the time it was imposed. That decision resulted in hardship for St Mungo’s employees, and money left over for St Mungo’s. 

In response to Unite’s pay campaign, St Mungo’s Executive Team has now made the following offers:

•  to pay part of the 2022/23 NJC award early. This is not additional money, but part of the money paid earlier than it otherwise would be.

• a one-off payment of £500 to workers on NJC scale point 30 or lower, ie those whose NJC base salary is £34,761 per year or less. Alternatively, a distribution of the same funds where workers on scale point 30 or lower receive less than £500, and those above scale point 30 receive a payment of some smaller amount to be agreed.

The problem with the above is that the amounts are too small and only one-off. We suffered a real terms pay cut in 2021/22 and unless something is done to put that right, our pay in real terms will remain lower than it was, even if future pay increases keep up with inflation. We are not earning money because we want copies of the King’s portrait (even though we may be interested to see what the new money will look like). Our earnings are to support our families and pay our rent, and our wages need to at least keep up with inflation. 

That is why we are asking all our members to be involved in the next stage of our campaign. 

Please talk to your colleagues about the pay issue. It would be great if you could forward this email to any St Mungo’s workers you know who may not have received it.

Across the country, Unite is winning.  Around 80% of Unite pay campaigns over the past year have resulted in success. If we stand together, we win. 
I will be calling a Unite meeting shortly to discuss the next steps in our campaign. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please get in touch.

In solidarity

Jacob