The law means businesses can now provide skilled agency workers to fill vital staffing gaps caused by industrial strike action.
With industrial action across a range of sectors threatening to disrupt crucial public services, the government has worked at speed to repeal trade union laws that restrict employment businesses from providing temporary agency workers to fill vacant positions caused by staff striking.
Businesses most affected by industrial action will be able to call upon skilled, temporary staff at short notice to plug essential positions. This will help mitigate the disproportionate impact strike action can have both on the UK economy and society by allowing crucial services, that we all use on a daily basis, to continue functioning.
The change in the law will apply across all sectors, for example, in education where strike action can force parents to stay at home with their children rather than go to work.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said in light of militant trade union action threatening to bring vital public services to a standstill, the government has moved at speed to repeal the restrictions.
“From today, businesses exposed to disruption caused by strike action will be able to tap into skilled, temporary workers to provide the services that allow honest, hardworking people to get on with their lives. That’s good news for our society and for our economy,” he said.
While this law change will provide greater flexibility to businesses, companies will still be required to abide by broader health and safety rules that keep employees and the public safe. In addition, it will be the responsibility of individual businesses to hire temporary workers with the correct and suitable skill set and/or qualifications to meet the obligations of the role.
The government has also changed the law to raise the maximum damages that courts can award against a union, when strike action has been found by the court to be unlawful. For the biggest unions, the maximum award will rise from £250,000 to £1 million.
The changes apply across England, Scotland and Wales.
