Thousands of British university staff have voted to strike in a dispute over pay, the trade union UNISON said on Thursday.

Staff including cleaners, administrators, library, catering and security workers will walk out after rejecting a 3% pay offer from the University and Colleges Employers Association, the union said.

"This ludicrously low increase does nothing to ease the financial pressures for thousands of struggling staff," UNISON's head of education Mike Short said. (Reporting by Farouq Suleiman; editing by William James)