Staff at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust have struck over the removal of a payment which amounts to a £1,400 annual pay cut.

The recruitment and retention primia payment has been removed by management after 10 months of talks broke down.

The removal of the payment comes on top of other changes to pay, pensions and conditions resulting from the massive cuts taking place across the public sector. Workers are already suffering from a two year pay freeze - a real terms cut given the rate of inflation, currently 3.6%.

The union's offer is to phase the payment out over two years.