Angela Rayner's bill ‘will make it easier for doctors to strike'

Times

18-07-2025

Labour's workers' rights overhaul will make it harder for hospitals to find cover for walkouts because unions will no longer need to tell managers in which departments the strikers work.
NHS bosses have raised safety fears about the measures, which could put Wes Streeting, the health secretary, on a collision course with Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, who is leading the reforms.
The Employment Rights Bill, which is making its way through the Lords, will make it easier for the British Medical Association (BMA) to call strikes, with some doctors saying jokingly: 'All hail Queen Angela'.
Unions will no longer have to meet a legal threshold of a 50 per cent turnout in a ballot to hold a strike. The reforms will also increase the length of a strike ballot mandate from six months to 12. This is expected to only apply to new ballots once the legislation has passed but NHS bosses have said it raised the prospect of 'ongoing, lengthy periods of industrial action'.
The BMA had only a 55 per cent turnout in its recent ballot of resident or junior doctors, and on current trends turnout would dip below 50 per cent if the union reballots doctors next year. However, Rayner's reforms mean the BMA would be able to strike anyway.
Resident doctors have said the bill is a 'game changer' in their long fight to get 'full pay restoration' to 2008 levels — the equivalent of a 29 per cent pay rise.
By law, individual employees do not need to tell employers if they intend to strike but unions must tell bosses how many workers in each category will walk out, as part of their notice of a strike.
The Employment Rights Bill will remove that requirement and while unions will still need to list the category of workers, they will not need to provide the numbers of workers in each category.
This week, Streeting said it was 'shockingly irresponsible' for unions to tell striking doctors not to inform their bosses.
He said: 'What I cannot fathom is how any doctor in good conscience would make it harder for managers to make sure we have safe staffing levels, would make it harder for other staff who are going to be turning up to work that day, not least the staff who have not had a higher percentage pay rise, many of whom are paid less than resident doctors.'
Richard Sloggett, of Future Health Research, said the Employment Rights Bill was 'very problematic for Streeting' and he was being 'boxed in by Angela Rayner'.
Rory Deighton, acute network director at the NHS Confederation, said: 'Not knowing whether individual members of staff will go out on strike can create much uncertainty for NHS leaders who will be working to minimise the impact on the provision of care and services to patients, ensuring that services can continue to be delivered safely — including considerations on the welfare of all of their staff working normally and not taking strike action.'
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He said employers and unions needed to 'work constructively and professionally at all times' and added: 'Nobody in the NHS, least of all patients, want to see ongoing, lengthy periods of industrial action, however, these reforms do mean this is a risk we could face.'
Chris Coombes, senior associate at the employment law firm Littler, said: 'Certainly, for employers who need to arrange cover during periods of industrial action, it will be more difficult to do so with less information about what sort of employees will be taking part in the strike.'
The BMA's six-month mandate to call strike action will run out in January, when the union will have to reballot its members. Its leaders have made it clear they are prepared to keep balloting in the long haul and have said they will not back down until they are awarded a 29 per cent rise.
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Sloggett, an adviser to Matt Hancock when he was health secretary, said: 'This current strike mandate will run until January. If both sides are still dug in, then the BMA will just reballot. When Rayner's reforms kick in next year, there will be nothing to stop the BMA going on strike again — even if they don't get above 50 per cent turnout.
'If you are in Wes Streeting's shoes you need as many tools and levers as possible against the BMA. Angela Rayner is taking away one of his levers — that if turnout goes below 50 per cent they can't strike again.
'Streeting is being boxed in by Angela Rayner. Rayner's reforms will rebalance power towards the unions. We could have wave after wave of industrial action. The government has got itself into a really messy situation.
'It raises the prospect of indefinite NHS strikes rumbling on and on for years. Unions will no longer have to go through the process of reballoting every six months.'
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He said the reforms would also give more power to other members of NHS staff threatening to strike, including nurses and hospital consultants. 'For Streeting the Employment Rights Bill is a real bind, as he can't be seen to be anti-union if he wants to secure a future labour leadership crown. But strikes will severely hamper any progress on NHS waiting lists.'
A government spokesman said: 'The old strike laws clearly didn't work, with the UK losing more days to industrial action in 2022 and 2023 than in any year since the 1980s.
'Strikes have a serious cost for patients, which is why we are appealing to the BMA to call them off and work to improve working conditions and continue rebuilding the NHS. Under our plans unions will still need to provide categories of worker, workplaces affected and number of workers involved.
'We have also been clear that the intention to change the ballot turnout threshold will be aligned closely with the introduction of e-balloting to ensure that industrial action mandates have broad support.'