Secretary of State for the Home Department (): On 10 January, the
Government introduced the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill
in Parliament. This is part of the Government’s plan to ensure
the ability of the unions and their members to strike whilst
giving confidence to the wider public that they can retain access
to key services during periods of strike action.
The Bill gives Secretaries of State the power to use regulations
to set a minimum service level in six specified sectors and also
specify the “relevant services” to which they apply. Fire and
rescue services are defined as one of the six sectors.
The Bill sets out that where a trade union gives notice of strike
action the employer may decide to issue a work notice, in
accordance with the minimum service level set, ahead of the
strike day(s). The work notice will specify the individuals
required to work in order to meet the minimum service level and
the nature of the work that they must carry out.
CONSULTATION
Prior to using regulations to set minimum service levels for any
of the sectors in scope of the bill, the relevant Secretary of
State is required to consult such people as they consider
appropriate. The Secretary of State must also consult - before
specifying in regulations - the particular services to which MSLs
will apply.
Today a public consultation has been published on GOV.UK to
fulfil these requirements in relation to the fire and rescue
services. In addition, Home Office officials will continue to
engage with key fire and rescue service stakeholders. The
consultation will run for 12 weeks from 9 February to 3 May 2023.
The consultation sets out that the essential services in scope of
a minimum service level should be those required to deal with
emergency incidents that pose an immediate risk to the public.
This should include but not be limited to:
- Firefighting.
- Rescues (including, but not limited to, on the road network,
water rescue or rescues at height). This includes actions to
avoid further harm such as rectifying potentially hazardous
situations to avoid future risk of fire and rescue, for example
clearance of debris on motorways and major roads.
- Dangerous substance clean-up.
- Services necessary to carry out the above, including for
example control room activities.
Other activities undertaken by fire and rescue services, such as
fire safety audits and domestic fire safety visits, remain vital
but it is less arguable that there could be an immediate risk to
life as a result of strike action by staff providing these
services. We therefore do not consider that these services should
be subject to a minimum service level at this time. However, the
consultation asks respondents to consider any further services
that should be brought into scope of the minimum service level,
for example, in the event of prolonged strikes by fire and rescue
service staff.
The consultation invites comment on five potential approaches for
setting a minimum service level for fire and rescue services.
These are:
- Requiring staffing levels or fire engine availability to
remain above a specified percentage relative to business as
usual.
- Requiring staffing levels to be shaped by the minimum
resources needed to respond to specific risks, such as a major
incident.
- Requiring business as usual staffing levels to be maintained
during periods of peak demand on fire and rescue services. This
could include days where we would expect greater demand on the
service (such as Bonfire Night and its nearest weekends), periods
of severe weather such as extreme flooding or wildfires, and/or
periods when other emergency services are taking strike action.
- Asking local leaders and organisational input to provide
evidence to allow the Home Office to decide what the minimum
service level in each of the 44 fire and rescue service areas
should look like.
- Setting a national minimum level of service to be provided by
fire and rescue services during periods of strike action, and
then providing flexibility for local leader and organisational
input to decide whether to build on that minimum level in light
of their local area’s needs and risk profile.
The consultation sets out that there is flexibility to use
elements from different options in combination, to cover
essential services.
This Government recognises the principle of workers and unions
being able to negotiate over fair pay. However, the UK Government
also has a duty to the public to ensure their safety, protect
their access to vital public services and to help them go about
their daily lives. The fire and rescue services provide a vital
role in protecting the public and it is right that we seek to
ensure the public can rely on these vital services during strike
periods.
