Five million working days lost due to strikes in a year

The number of working days lost to strike action over the last year has passed five million, figures show.

Some 5.05 million days are estimated to have been lost in labour disputes in the UK from June 2022 to December 2023.

This is the highest total for any 19-month period for more than 30 years since 5.34 million days were lost from July 1989 to January 1991.

Comprehensive figures for the strikes that were organised in January 2024 by junior doctors has yet to be compiled, while more recent strikes by train drivers belonging to the Aslef union, plus further action planned by junior doctors later in February, will push the cumulative total even higher.

The figures have been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and include provisional numbers for the tail end of 2023.

The present spell of industrial action kicked off in June 2022 when members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) staged their first stoppage in a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

It was soon followed by a sequence of highprofile strikes ranging from barristers, civil servants and university lecturers to postal workers, driving examiners, nurses and ambulance staff.

While many disputes have now been settled, a handful remain unresolved including those involving junior doctors and some train drivers.

The number of working days that have been lost is considered to be a better indicator of the impact of labour disputes than the number of recorded stoppages, because of difficulties in consistently defining a stoppage over time, the ONS explained.