About 200 Age UK employees are being balloted for strike action as part of a pay dispute.
The union Unite said members including call centre and office staff were “angry after years of below-inflation pay rises” that the union said had resulted in their wages falling by 15.3 per cent in real terms since 2021.
Industrial relations have deteriorated further since Age UK “imposed an insulting pay rise of just 2 per cent for most workers amid a cost-of-living crisis”, the union said.
“Age UK claimed that it could only afford 2 per cent, because it was concerned that its reserves would drop to £25m,” Unite said.
“However, the charity has now confirmed that its reserves are forecast to stand at £31m by the end of the year.”
The ballot, which will open on 14 October and close on 18 November, includes workers based in London, Blackpool, Lancashire, Newton Abbot, Devon and Warrington, Cheshire.
A spokesperson for Age UK, which had an average monthly headcount of 1,656 staff in the year to the end of March 2025, said the charity remained committed to engaging constructively with Unite.
“For clarity, 68 per cent of our workforce have received an above-inflation pay award of 4.1 per cent or 4 per cent with any lower paid staff working on our phonelines helping older people and our shop-based retail colleagues among these,” the spokesperson said.
“This year’s pay award of between 2 per cent and 4.1 per cent, backdated to the start of the financial year in April, represents the absolute maximum level that can be supported responsibly this year.
“We hugely value the contribution and commitment of everyone working for Age UK.
“Along with many other charities, we are having to ensure that our budgets are balanced in the face of an extremely tough external environment.”
Age UK’s “top priority” remained supporting older people and that no older person was affected by proposed union action, the spokesperson said.
Matt Freeman, regional co-ordinating officer at Unite, said: “Unite’s Age UK members are dedicated to helping elderly people who are often highly distressed and in need.
“Age UK leadership thinks that makes them an easy target and that they will put up with unjustifiable attacks on their pay because they don’t want to let people down.
“But is it Age UK’s behaviour that is letting the charity’s service users down – this dispute will continue to escalate unless Age UK puts forward an acceptable deal.”