A repeal of a previous law stopping businesses from plugging staffing gaps during industrial action with agency workers has been enacted by the government. Under the previous trade union laws, businesses were restricted from supplying temporary agency workers to fill duties by employees taking part in strikes. The new legislation, repealing these legal restrictions, allows businesses impacted by strike action to utilise the services of employment businesses to provide temporary agency staff at short notice to temporarily cover essential roles for the duration of the strike.

Businesses will still need to comply with broader health and safety rules to keep both employees and the public safe, making it their responsibility to hire cover workers with the necessary skills and/or qualifications to meet those obligations.

The idea behind the legislation change is to help mitigate against the impact of future strikes, such as those seen on the railways across the UK. The Government has cited the example of skilled temporary workers filling vacant positions such as train dispatchers, who perform vital tasks such as giving train drivers the signal they are safe to proceed and making sure train doors aren’t obstructed.

The change in law, which will apply across all sectors, is designed to minimise the negative impact of strikes on the public by ensuring that businesses and services can continue operating. Subject to parliamentary approval, these changes are made through a statutory instrument and are set to come into force over the coming weeks and will apply across England, Scotland and Wales.

Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said:

“Once again trade unions are holding the country to ransom by grinding crucial public services and businesses to a halt. The situation we are in is not sustainable. Repealing these 1970s-era restrictions will give businesses freedom to access fully skilled staff at speed, all while allowing people to get on with their lives uninterrupted to help keep the economy ticking.”

Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said:

“Despite the best efforts of militant union leaders to bring our country to a standstill, it’s clear this week’s strikes did not have the desired impact due to more people being able to work from home. However, far too many hard working families and businesses were unfairly affected by union’s refusal to modernise. Reforms such as this legislation are vital and will ensure any future strikes will cause even less disruption and allow adaptable, flexible, fully skilled staff to continue working throughout.”

Commenting on the government’s decision to lift the ban on the use of agency workers during strikes, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“The government should be getting people around the table to find a fair resolution to this rail dispute. But ministers are more interested in cynically picking a fight with unions than reaching a negotiated settlement. Having slammed P&O for replacing experienced workers with agency staff, Grant Shapps is using the same playbook. These plans are a deliberate attempt to undermine the right to strike and to reduce workers’ bargaining power. Bringing in less qualified agency staff to deliver important services will endanger public safety, worsen disputes and poison industrial relations.

“Unions and the agency recruitment industry have both warned ministers these plans are unworkable. Asking agency staff to break strikes will put them in an appalling and impossible situation. Some may not realise until it is too late that they are being asked to cross picket lines and replace striking workers. The government is chasing headlines, rather than acting in the national interest.”

The TUC and REC issued a joint statement on Monday calling on the government to abandon its plan to lift the ban on agency workers filling in during strikes. It said:

“The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and Trades Union Congress (TUC) are urging the government to abandon its proposal to repeal the ban on agency workers filling in for employees who are on strike. The two organisations, representing both the agency sector and unions, think the plan is unworkable and oppose it in the strongest possible terms. They urge the government to leave the current ban in place as a key element of a sustainable national employment relations framework. Using agency staff to cover strikes will only prolong the conflict between employers and their staff. Strikes are industrial disputes within a single industry or firm.

“Government needs to step up and do the work around resolving industrial disputes rather than inserting a third party in the form of agency workers into a dispute. That does nothing to solve the underlying issues between the company and their staff. This will only prolong the dispute and inflame tensions. Negotiations should be the obvious priority – rather than potentially putting the safety of agency workers and company employees at risk.

“The proposal is not practical. There are currently 1.3 million vacancies in the UK, a record high. REC data shows that the number of candidates available to fill roles has been falling at record pace for months. In this tight labour market, agency workers are in high demand and can pick and choose the jobs they take. Agency staff are very unlikely to choose a role that requires them to cross a picket line versus one that doesn’t. Additionally, many roles that may be on strike require technical skills or training. Training agency workers to do these jobs would be expensive and time-consuming.

“Only recently government ministers came out to condemn what P&O Ferries did. Surely that example cannot have been forgotten so soon? That case showed how unfair these situations can be for agency workers, as well as the negative attention they and the agencies would receive.”