Housing provider Stonham settles on staff pay

Stonham, the supported housing provider, has reached agreement with union Amicus on staff pay for 2006-7 after protracted negotiations.

Amicus members, who were unhappy with the company’s initial offer of a 2.5 per cent increase for all staff, voted to accept a pay rise of 2.6 per cent for lower-paid staff and 2.5 per cent for all others.

Stonham chief executive Andy Painton said the increase was in line with inflation at a time when the company was “experiencing huge demand to reduce costs as a result of pressure on Supporting People budgets”.

Amicus organiser David Jones said negotiations had been “extremely difficult” but members had made a “sensible decision” to accept the latest offer.