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Unison members in London are being urged to vote for strike action in a ballot over the refusal of local authorities to meet their claim for £4,000 in London weighting per year, writes Katie Leason.

The union said that local authorities must address the "spiralling" costs of living and working in London. Most council workers cannot afford housing, let alone the travel and higher cost of living, claims Unison.

The result of the strike ballot will be known on 3 May. A recent consultative ballot to see if members wanted to strike showed 85 per cent were in favour.

In Newham, Unison called off its plans to strike this week after the council lifted its ban on negotiating with the union.

Unison had called a series of rolling 24-hour strikes claiming that the council had tried to de-recognise it by banning all negotiations and consultation.

More than 2,000 Unison members were due to strike on Tuesday, but Newham council’s chief executive Dave Burbage issued a statement on Monday morning reinstating consultation.

Newham council confirmed that the dispute had been resolved and said that as a result it had lifted its suspension of consultation with Newham Unison.

A spokesperson said the suspension of consultation was only temporary and was because Newham Unison failed to retract an inaccurate statement about a member of staff’s regrading.