29 September 2026
ICR workers demonstrating their own cause and supporting nearby V&A workers also in dispute. London, 3 September 2026. Photo Workers.
Over 300 Unite trade union members, ranging from logistics and store staff to researchers and scientists, across two sites of the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, have won their 66-day fight for better pay and conditions.
The settlement is for an average 17.2 per cent pay increase over two years, with a minimum 45 per cent lift to the lowest salary. The ICR possesses university status, being linked to London University. That is significant for pay.
Historic
The ICR workers are hailing this as a historic victory. The strikes at the Sutton and Chelsea sites were the first in the 117-year history of the Institute. This disrupted lab work and caused research to be put on hold; action not lightly taken.
Unite had described some of those working at the institute as “languishing barely above the London Living Wage”, struggling with heating and water bills and unable to afford regular meals or transport. Their pay scales had been frozen while the cost of living rose to crisis point.
Reality
Yet management had refused to recognise reality, imposing an inadequate 4 per cent offer, while sitting on reserves of hundreds of millions of pounds. The union accused it of operating a “low pay culture”, where workers were expected to work overtime without pay, while managers were paid six figure sums.
A key, successful, demand was that incremental pay rises should be reinstated. This will begin to reverse years of real-terms pay cuts. Management was also forced to capitulate by backtracking on plans to exclude new or existing workers from Universities Superannuation Scheme.
Valuable
This defined benefit pension scheme is valuable for its members and was itself saved from cuts and doubled in value thanks to previous years of action by the Universities and College Union.
A hot meals facility at the Sutton site was also restored : if these conditions were not met, over 60 percent of the staff said they would leave the Institute as soon as they found a more sustainable working environment.
Discovery
Together with its partner NHS foundation trust The Royal Marsden, the ICR forms the largest cancer centre in Europe. It drives discovery of more new cancer-beating drugs than anywhere else in the world.
The ICR’s prestige rests on its workers, who have found a new confidence and reason to stay.