UNISON has accused a Labour-run council of using illegal strike-breaking tactics in their long-running action to receive the same pay retention bonus as their colleagues in children’s services.

Mental health workers are due to begin the next phase of their strike action at Barnet Council in north London next Monday.

But a statement from the branch says the authority’s director of adult social care has informed members that he engaged the services of agency workers supplied by Flex 360 and that such a use of “agency workers by an employer during industrial action is unlawful.”