1 day Ago
Counsellors earning almost £45,000 a year are set to walk-out because they believe their charity employer should be paying them thousands of pounds more. A team of 20 counsellors employed by Norfolk and Waveney Mind to deliver NHS therapy courses have voted in favour of strike action over a bizarre pay row with the charity. But union bosses say they are being "taken advantage of" by the charity because they believe they should be paid on a higher pay grade.
The roles are paid at band 6 of NHS salary scales, which range between £37,338 and £44,962, depending on their experience. But the Unison union says the group ought to be paid the next level up - between £46,148 and £52,809 - and describe the current salaries as "trainee rates". Mind, however, says an external audit of the pay grades advised the charity that they were correct.
The team of 20 is employed to deliver NHS Talking Therapies, which Norfolk and Waveney Mind is commissioned to deliver by the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. Crunch talks have been held between the charity and union over the dispute, but after a resolution was not reached the counsellors have voted in favour of industrial action. Of the team, just one did not back the proposed strike.
Cameron Matthews, Unison's regional organiser in the east, said: "Counsellors want to help their patients, but they deserve to be paid and rewarded properly. "Publicly, Mind campaigns for action to tackle the crisis in mental health. "But as an employer, it is undermining the fight and paying the very people on the front line thousands less than they are due.
" A Norfolk and Waveney Mind spokesman said: "We remain committed to working collaboratively with all parties involved in this dispute to find a productive and appropriate solution that resolves counsellors' concerns while delivering the best possible service to the community.".
