The government committed as part of its 'Plan to Make Work Pay' to repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 (the Strikes Act) and a press release issued by the Department for Business and Trade on 6 August has confirmed that it will follow through on this.
The Strikes Act will be repealed by the Employment Rights Bill once it has received Royal Assent.
The government published a policy paper to accompany its announcement. This states that the policy of the government is that minimum service levels (MSLs) unduly restrict the right to strike and undermine good industrial relations. As a result of this, the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Business and Trade have written to the Secretaries of State and the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales asking them to encourage employers to avoid imposing minimum service levels on their workforce until the Act is repealed. Employers should engage in negotiation and discussion with trade unions, ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining.
The government has also made it clear that, following the High Court ruling in R (ASLEF and others) v Secretary of State for Business and Trade in August 2023,employment businesses are prohibited from providing agency workers to cover the duties normally performed by a worker of an organisation who is taking part in a strike or other industrial action.
