Update on minimum service levels and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022
Published 6 August 2024
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/minimum-service-levels-and-the-use-of-agency-workers-during-strike-action/update-on-minimum-service-levels-and-the-conduct-of-employment-agencies-and-employment-businesses-amendment-regulations-2022
The government has today announced plans to repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023.
The policy of this government is that minimum service levels (MSLs) unduly restrict the right to strike and undermine good industrial relations. The introduction of the 2023 Act was met with widespread condemnation from employers and trade unions. Many employers across different sectors pointed to its unworkability and impact on employers’ and trade unions’ abilities to negotiate and come to resolutions on disputes.
As such, the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Business and Trade have written to 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Wales asking them to encourage employers to avoid imposing minimum service levels on their workforce, until the Act is repealed.
The repeal of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels Act) 2023 will be done through the Employment Rights Bill. Amendments made by the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 would accordingly be reversed and any minimum service regulations would lapse once the Employment Rights Bill has Royal Assent. We are committed to ensuring that this legislation will be introduced in Parliament within the first 100 days of this government.
Although the ability of employers to give work notices will legally continue until the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 has been formally repealed and amendments to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 are accordingly reversed, in this interim period we strongly encourage employers to seek alternative mechanisms for dispute resolution, including voluntary agreements, rather than imposing minimum service levels. The government encourages employers to engage in negotiation and discussion with trade unions, ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining.
The government also wishes to make clear that, following the High Court ruling in August 2023 which upheld the judicial review challenge on the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022, 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. In light of the High Court ruling, it is not necessary to repeal these regulations, however the government will formally update Parliament on the position soon.
The government is committed to promoting more positive industrial relations to ensure our workers have a voice. The upcoming Employment Rights Bill will remove barriers to effective collective action and strengthen the rights of working people by empowering workers to organise collectively through trade unions. We believe this will help to usher in a new era of partnership that sees trade unions, employers and government working constructively together in co-operation and through negotiation. This is an important part of our plan for growth and to raise living standards for everyone, everywhere. We will do this by boosting productivity, boosting incomes and levelling the playing field so that employers who do right by their workers are no longer undercut in a race to the bottom.