The UK government has confirmed its intention to repeal the Strikes Act 2023, including the use of minimum service levels during strike action, which could have enabled employers to compel staff to work. Ministers have written to government departments and the first ministers of Scotland and Wales to “strongly encourage” relevant employers, such as NHS employers, to engage in discussion with trade unions, instead of using minimum service levels should there be an industrial dispute.
The Strikes Act 2023 applies to England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland is not subject to the same trade union legislation. Until the act is formally repealed, the use of minimum service levels and the use of work notices – which set out who must work during a strike – will remain legal but the UK government has made clear its opposition to the use of these measures and will soon repeal them.
This is a significant campaign win for the RCN. Ever since proposals for minimum service levels were introduced by the last government in 2023, the RCN has been unequivocal in its opposition to them, raising this in parliament and in the media.
On his first day as Prime Minister, the RCN wrote to Sir Keir Starmer MP, urging him to give a clear indication that minimum service levels would not be used and for a reset in relations between the UK government and trade unions.
Ministers have committed to introducing an Employment Rights Bill in the first 100 days of the new government which will formally repeal the Strikes Act 2023 and other anti-trade union legislation.
RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Nursing staff are a safety-critical workforce in health and care services, and when you prevent them from speaking out you put patients at risk.
“The government is absolutely right to heed our calls to repeal an act that was harmful to industrial relations and did nothing to advance the cause of high-quality and safe patient care.
“The government must soon go the whole way and remove the remaining anti-union legislation and continue on this mature approach to relations with public sector workers and their representatives.”
Further information on the RCN’s campaigning on the Employment Rights Bill, what it will mean for the RCN and the wider nursing profession, will be shared in the coming months.
