Junior doctors’ strike helped to double days lost to industrial action

 The junior doctors’ strike was partly responsible for the number of days lost to industrial action doubling last year, the Office for National Statistics has revealed.

In total, 322,000 working days were lost in 2016 compared with 170,000 the previous year. The junior doctors’ dispute over new contracts in England accounted for 129,000 lost working days – 40 per cent of the total.

There were 154,000 workers involved in disputes last year, higher than the record low of 81,000 in 2015 but still low by historical levels. The total number of days lost was the eighth lowest since records began in 1891.

The North East and London lost the most working days per 1,000 employees. There were 101 separate stoppages, five fewer than in 2015, but the number of working days lost per dispute doubled to almost 3,200.

Frances O’grady, the TUC general secretary, said: “Strikes are far less common these days and tend to be short. With the average annual wage still worth £1,000 less than a decade ago, it is not surprising that many strikes are about fair pay.

“To keep strikes at historic lows, the next government needs to get wages rising.”