BEERG Newsletter - UK: Government pushes ahead with new strike laws

David Hopper and William Brown of Lewis Silkin LLP write: Faced by entrenched pay disputes across the UK public sector and railway network, the government is proposing to expand and simplify its previously announced reforms and introduce minimum service levels during strikes across a range of public services. 

The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill (the Bill) was introduced in the House of Commons on 10 January 2023. The Bill follows the government’s earlier publication of the Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill (the Transport Strikes Bill) in October 2022 (which covered transport strikes only and we wrote about here). The Bill covers a wider range of public services and proposes a markedly simpler legal framework than the Transport Strikes Bill, which we understand will now be superseded by this Bill. The intention is to ensure a minimum level of service is provided during certain public sector strikes.

Read David and William’s full comments here.