UNITE the union warned of a “rebellion” at the St Mungo’s homeless charity yesterday as “underpaid and fed-up” workers started voting in a strike ballot.

Staff are struggling to pay rent and bills while the organisation’s chief executive Emma Haddad is paid more than £189,000 a year, according to the union.

Following a well below-inflation 1.75 per cent wage deal in 2021 and a one-off payment of just £700 last year, more than 500 workers in London, Bristol, Brighton and elsewhere across southern England are now voting on potential walkouts, Unite confirmed.