Diligenta contact centre staff escalate strike action in pay dispute
Unite members employed by finance sector contact centre outsourcer Diligenta have today (Monday 12 January 2026) escalated strike action across five sites in an ongoing dispute over pay. Workers at Diligenta’s head office in Peterborough will also now be balloted for industrial action.
The escalation follows five days of strike action held in November and December, after Unite says Diligenta management failed to engage in meaningful negotiations on pay.
Approximately 1,000 Unite members based at Diligenta sites in Liverpool, Glasgow, Reading, Edinburgh and Stirling will take part in an initial week-long strike, running from 00:01 on Monday 12 January until 23:59 on Sunday 18 January. Further industrial action will be announced shortly.
The strike is expected to cause significant disruption to Diligenta’s clients. Unite says management has repeatedly been given opportunities to make a fair pay offer but has refused to negotiate seriously.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:
“Diligenta has failed to grasp the depth of anger among its workforce. Imposing a real-terms pay cut on workers while making millions in profit and continuing to reward shareholders is completely unacceptable.”
Diligenta staff carry out outsourced contact centre, back office and complaints-handling work for major financial services companies, including Lloyds, M&G, Aviva and Phoenix. The industrial action is expected to have a considerable impact on service delivery for these clients.
Unite is the union for the 21st century, meeting the greatest challenges facing working people today. It is a democratic and campaigning union, which fights back for employees in the workplace, protects workers’ rights and takes trade unionism out to millions of unorganised workers.
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