Seven Months of Bad Faith Bargaining

Throughout the dispute, management asked staff to accept a “trust me” model of negotiation. They refused to share detailed organisational budgets, expenses, or meaningful information about major spending decisions, including the charity’s reported £10 million annual spend on private agency staff. Instead, workers were expected to blindly accept management’s claims about affordability while the financial books remained closed.

At the same time, executive management secretly awarded CQC Registered Managers an annual allowance of £2,500 each, costing the organisation approximately £1 million a year. This happened while frontline staff were being told there was no money for an improved pay offer. When whistleblowers exposed the payments, management admitted the award had been made but still confirmed there was no new offer for the rest of the workforce.

When the union presented devastating cost of living survey results, the Chief Executive and Board of Trustees failed to respond. Management were also criticised for controlling the process, refusing to allow the union to contribute properly to agendas or correct inaccurate meeting notes. By the fifth pay meeting, more than seven months had passed without management ever presenting a second or improved offer.

During the final ACAS conciliation meetings, senior managers escalated the dispute further. They refused basic negotiation conditions, declined to commit to urgency, and resorted to personal attacks. Management declared they would not “play Santa Claus” or “reward bad behaviour” by offering an improved deal to their struggling workforce. This was said while senior executives had benefited from significant pay growth over previous years, including a reported 52.6% increase for the Deputy CEO, while frontline staff endured real-terms cuts of up to 24%.

The Timeline of Disrespect

This chronology shows a clear pattern: delay, refusal to disclose financial information, secret payments to selected managers, and repeated failure to make an improved offer to frontline staff.

What This Timeline Shows

This timeline shows a clear pattern. Management delayed negotiations for more than seven months, refused financial transparency, ignored staff hardship, withheld an improved offer, and imposed a real-terms pay cut despite overwhelming rejection by union members.

At every stage, workers asked for meaningful negotiation. At every stage, management chose delay, control, and imposition. The result is a dispute created by executive decisions, not by frontline staff who simply want fair pay, respect, and transparency.

HUMAN COST

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