Government to Repeal Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act

Implications for schools and academy trusts.

The UK Government has recently announced its intention to repeal the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023, a significant legislative move with implications for public services, including education. This decision, as outlined in a government press release, comes as part of the new Labour Government’s wider shift in policy on industrial relations while seeking to resolve industrial action across the public sector.

The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 was introduced to allow Regulations to be implemented on an industry-specific basis, ensuring that essential public services such as education, health, and transport continued to function at a minimum level during strike action.

In the education sector, this meant that staff in schools and academies could be required to maintain a specified level of service even during industrial action, by issuing a ‘work notice’ to the workforce. This would have had implications for trade unions which might have been liable for losses arising from non-compliance with a work notice and employees who would have lost employment protections if they had taken strike action after they have been identified in the work notice as having to work during the strike.

For more detail, you can read our previous article on the implications of this legislation for the education sector here.

However, the Government's recent press release strongly criticises the effectiveness of the Act, stating that "no employer has used" the minimum service levels, they have not "resolved a single strike," and they "undermine good industrial relations." The unusual inclusion of the word "binned" in the formal release underscores the strength of the Government's stance against the Act. The accompanying policy paper emphasises that industrial relations should be built on "good faith negotiation and bargaining."

The repeal of this Act brings certainty in that there will be no legal requirement for staff to provide a minimum level of service in schools and academies during strike action. In reality, the prospect of legally imposed minimum service levels was some way off in the education sector even before the repeal of the Act. This is because the previous Government intended to encourage voluntary agreements on minimum service levels to be reached in the education sector before passing Regulations to enforce the rules.

The recent announcement by the Government that it will honour the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body to make a pay award to teachers of 5.5% may well lower the likelihood of industrial unrest in the sector. The NEU has recently confirmed that it is recommending acceptance of the pay offer, but is undertaking a snap poll of members from 21 to 30 September on this issue. This follows a preliminary ballot of NEU members in the Spring in which over 90 per cent of those who responded indicated that they would vote ‘yes’ to strike action.

On the other hand, pay talks in relation to support staff working in schools covered by NJC Green Book terms are still on-going and may lead to further disputes.  

Academy trusts and schools will of course need to consider how they manage potential strike action in the future, building on their experience over recent years. There continues to be a risk that industrial action will lead to whole school closure should strike action continue to be a feature of industrial relations in the sector, but strong contingency planning will continue to mitigate this risk. The following Government guidance, updated last year, continues to be a useful resource: Handling Strike Action in Schools.

As the government moves to repeal the Strikes Act as part of the upcoming Employment Rights Bill, it remains essential for education leaders to stay informed and prepared for the changing landscape of industrial relations.