How many working days are lost to strikes in the UK?

The ONS Labour Disputes Inquiry, published monthly, shows about 691,000 working days lost to strikes in the 12 months to July 2026, a provisional figure in the release of 15 September 2026. That compares with 2.51 million in 2022 and 2.66 million in 2023, each the highest calendar-year total since 1989.

The LABD dataset goes back to 1931 and gives working days lost, the number of stoppages and workers involved, with breakdowns by region, industry and public or private sector.

The ONS treats working days lost as the best guide to the scale of strikes, because the way stoppages are counted has changed. No data were collected for 2020 and 2021, so there is a gap in the series.

Official sources: ONS LABD: Labour disputes in the UK

The latest figure

The newest value is at Office for National Statistics (ONS). More on it: Average weekly hours worked in the UK.

When is the next figure out?

Monthly, usually a Tuesday in the middle of the month, 7am, in the ONS labour market release; next release 20 October 2026

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Mean
  The total of all values divided by how many there are. Often what people mean by 'average', it can be pulled up or down by a few extreme values.
• Seasonally adjusted
  Figures that have had regular calendar patterns removed, such as Christmas shopping or summer jobs, so that underlying movements between months or quarters can be seen.
• Full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount
  FTE converts part-time posts into full-time units, so two half-time staff count as one FTE. Headcount counts each person once regardless of hours.
• Survey sample
  The group of people or businesses selected to take part in a survey, chosen so that their answers can be used to estimate figures for the whole population.

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This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about work, pay and employment: all Work, pay and employment questions.