CGL Workers for Fair Pay: Stand Together for Our Future
Join the CGL Unite campaign. We are demanding fair pay restoration, executive pay transparency, and a seat at the table to ensure our professional dedication is recognized and rewarded.
WHAT WE DO
The Real Cost of CGL’s Growth
CGL staff are facing real-terms pay cuts. It is time to prioritize the workers who deliver these life-saving services every day.
Management failed to engage in fair negotiations and refused to present an improved pay offer. Workers are now taking a stand for fair pay and sustainable services.
To resolve this dispute and ensure a sustainable future for CGL, we are calling on management to align their actions with the organization’s core values. We demand that they:
- Believe in People – Agree to a fair, immediate pay offer and commit to a structured, multi-year pay restoration plan that reflects the true value of staff.
- Be Bold – Take decisive action to fix the systemic exploitation of workers. Management must share a concrete plan to address widening inequality within CGL and publish the Executive pay setting process every year.
- Be Open – Foster genuine transparency by granting Unite observer seats on the Board and ensuring full, unrestricted access to relevant papers.
- Be Compassionate – Acknowledge the severe financial hardship frontline staff are facing by issuing a formal, meaningful response to the devastating results of the recent cost-of-living survey.
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Days Of Management Ignoring the Cost of Living Survey Results
Supporting Our Communities
Professional, life-saving support delivered by skilled staff.
Changing Lives
Change Grow Live (CGL) is one of the UK’s largest health and social care charities, delivering free, confidential services that help people change their direction, stay safe, and improve their overall wellbeing.
To sustain this, CGL employs approximately 6,000 paid staff members and utilizes a dedicated network of 1,200 volunteers and peer mentors.
This workforce combines the expertise of clinical professionals including doctors, specialist nurses, and psychologists with frontline recovery workers and individuals with lived experience.
By blending professional expertise with 196,978 volunteer hours, CGL delivered highly personalized, evidence-based care to 215,122 vulnerable individuals during 2025.
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Get Involved
The work CGL do
Substance Treatment
CGL provides comprehensive support, including structured treatment planning, clinical interventions like medically assisted detox, and psychosocial support through one-to-one casework and group therapy.
Harm Reduction
Teams operate dedicated needle exchanges, facilitate testing and treatment for blood-borne viruses (BBVs) like Hepatitis C, and distribute over 37,000 Naloxone kits annually to prevent opioid overdoses.
Criminal Justice & Diversion
Work directly within prisons and alongside probation services to provide transitional support, court diversion schemes, and continuity of care for those leaving custody.
Children, Young People & Families
Targeted substance treatment for those up to age 25 and dedicated family services that address the “hidden harm” experienced by children impacted by a relative’s substance use.
Housing & Homelessness
Housing & Outreach teams connect rough sleepers and those in unstable housing with essential healthcare and support networks.
Employment Support
Individual Placement and Support programs help individuals in recovery navigate back into structured training, volunteering, and employment.
Strength is Growing
Demand Change
Despite delivering high class, life-saving services, frontline staff are being pushed to the brink by real-terms pay cuts. We are standing together to demand:
Believe in People: A fair, immediate pay rise and a multi-year restoration plan.
Be Bold: Transparency on executive pay and a plan to bridge the inequality gap.
Be Open: Worker representation at the Board level.
Be Compassionate: A formal response to the cost-of-living crisis affecting staff.
2026 is our turning point. Be part of the change. Join Unite’s fastest growing campaign!
33%
Increased Membership Over Past 3 Months.
Days Of Management Ignoring the Cost of Living Survey Results