Consultation Launched On Whether Regulation 7 of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 Should Be Repealed

Regulation 7 prohibits employers from hiring agency workers to provide cover for striking workers. Regulation 7 had been repealed back in July 2022, relying upon the fact that a consultation had been conducted back in 2015 (required to comply with s12 of the Employment Agencies Act 1973). However, on the 13.7.23, the High Court held in the case of Aslef v Secretary of State for Business and Trade (2023), that the Government could not rely upon the 2015 consultation as "circumstances had changed since 2015 and the secretary of state cannot, therefore, have been sufficiently aware of the views which would have been expressed by the trade unions or the sector more generally had they been consulted in 2022...What would be required, if the government wished to pursue the proposal to revoke regulation 7, would be a public consultation and further consideration by the Secretary of State/Parliament of whether to implement it." Hence, the regulations repealing Regulation 7 (i.e. The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022) were quashed with effect from the 10th August 2023. The new consultation is open for responses until the 16th January 2024