02/06/2017

While 322,000 working days were lost to labour disputes in the UK during 2016 compared with 170,000 in 2015, the dispute involving junior NHS doctors accounted for almost 40% (129,000) of the 2016 total, which was still the eighth lowest total recorded since records began in 1891.

In ‘Labour disputes in the UK: 2016’, the Office of National Statistics provides a more in-depth analysis than that available in its monthly Labour Market Statistical Bulletin on disputes by public and private sector, industry, region, cause, size and duration for last year, together with equivalent figures for previous years.

It reveals that that just 95 new disputes commenced in 2016 – the second lowest total recorded since 1891. This contrasts with the period from 1955 to 1979, when the totals of new disputes routinely exceeded 2,500 a year and reached a record 3,906 in 1970.

154,000 workers were involved in industrial disputes in 2016, which though higher than the record low figure of 81,000 for 2015 was still low by historical standards, despite once again being substantially affected by the junior doctor dispute.

The two regions that lost most working days (16 per 1000 workers in both cases) were London and the North East, followed by the North West (13) and South East (12).

While there were more stoppages in the private sector during 2016, the public sector once again lost more working days – with the education sector making the major contribution.