Four days of strike action by finance staff at Newham Council has been called off.

Members of the accounts payable team had threatened to walk out in a dispute over how a job evaluation process was carried out.

But today (Thursday), the day before the first strike was set to take place, the council and the Unite union announced that talks to resolve the dispute had seen both parties come to an agreement.

A joint statement issued by the council’s interim chief executive Katherine Kerswell, Unite regional officer Onay Kasab and the union’s branch chairman and secretary Brenda Bedminster and Donford Vardon, said that a “solution that is acceptable to both sides” had been reached.

It continued: “We hope this agreement is the start of a more effective and closer working relationship between the senior leadership of the council, including human resources, and Unite and the other recognised trade unions.”