It was a hot strike summer – officially.

• In April 2020, collection and publication of labour disputes data were temporarily suspended in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

• In June 2022, collection of the Labour Disputes Inquiry restarted.

• In June 2022 and July 2022, 70,500 and 87,600 working days were lost, respectively, roughly four times higher than the 2019 monthly average of 19,500 days.

• Most working days lost in June and July 2022 were in the transport and storage industry.

In June and July 2022, there were 70,500 and 87,600 working days lost, respectively, as a result of labour disputes. The June 2022 figure is an increase of 51,000 compared with the 2019 average, and the July 2022 figure is an increase of 68,100 compared with this average.

The Office for National Statistics states: “In June 2022, there were 19,100 workers involved across 59 stoppages in the UK. This increased in July 2022 to 45,100 workers, despite there being 10 fewer stoppages. The number of stoppages in June and July 2022 are both higher than the 2019 average. Most stoppages in June and July 2022 were because of disputes over pay.”

Disputes by region 

In terms of the regional picture, Yorkshire and the Humber and London saw the most working days lost that month, with 25,800 and 16,700 respectively.

In July, North-West England recorded the most at 24,700, followed by the capital on 14,200.

Labour disputes by industry

In June and July 2022, most of the labour disputes took place in the transport and storage industry. In June 2022, 60,900 (86.4%) working days lost and 38 (64.4%) stoppages were in transport and storage. In July 2022, over 45,000 (51.6%) working days lost were in transport and storage, with 31 (63.3%) stoppages taking place in this industry.

Click here for the full ONS analysis