A PLANNED strike by staff at homeless charity Shelter has been called off.

Members of the Unite union were due to walk out for three days from today in a row over pay but the action has been averted after talks.

A spokesman for the conciliation service Acas said: "Shelter management and Unite representatives met at Acas in relation to the current dispute.

"As a consequence of the progress that was possible in these talks, Unite is suspending the impending industrial action due to start on Tuesday and will be consulting its members on new proposals that were negotiated."

The strike had been due to affect around 400 workers in the main offices in Glasgow, London and Sheffield as well as smaller offices in Manchester and Bristol.

Unite had said that its members had voted 69.2 per cent in favour of the strike in protest at changes to their pay structures which they said could lead to cuts of up to £5,000 for new starts.

The union's regional officer Peter Storey said: "After intense negotiations at Acas, Shelter management have put forward an improved offer. It represents a significant improvement on previous offers and will be put to our members in a ballot over the coming days."

Shelter's chief executive Campbell Robb said: "Both sides have been working up to the wire to try to avert this week's strike action and are delighted that the efforts proved successful. We very much hope that union members will respond positively to the new offer now on the table.

"We have more people coming to us for help than ever before - when we are facing greater competition for donations and cuts to government funding for services."