Following Royal Assent of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act in July, guidance has now been published by the Government to support employers, trade unions and workers with issuing work notices.
Where strike action is called and where minimum service level regulations are in place, employers can issue work notices to identify people who are required to work to help ensure the minimum service levels are met.
The Government also laid a Code of Practice in Parliament which sets out the reasonable steps trade unions should take to ensure their members comply with work notices and help ensure minimum service levels are met.
Ministers will try again to overturn the ban on the use of agency workers during strikes, as the government launches a consultation on the law change.
In June the government was defeated in the High Court after it rushed through new laws that allowed agencies to supply employers with workers to fill in for those on strike.
The presiding judge criticised ministers for acting in a way that was “unfair, unlawful and irrational” and reinstated the ban on agency staff being used to break strikes.
But despite this rebuke – and strong opposition from unions and employers – ministers are resurrecting the plans with a new consultation.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), which represents suppliers of agency workers, called the announcement of the consultation “a disappointment, given the scale of opposition from employers and workers to the previous proposal”.
It would permit, but not require, businesses to bring in agency staff during a strike if they wish to do so and give employment businesses more flexibility in how they support their clients when faced with industrial action, such as strikes. It would also allow workers the freedom to accept roles that involve temporarily replacing workers taking part in strikes.
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