The surge of strike action is still spreading across the UK, threatening to bring the country to a halt as employees in the transport, NHS and civil service sectors take industrial action in disputes over pay and conditions. The fresh wave of strikes includes 5 weeks’ strike action at the Passport Offices in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
April strikes
Tuesday 11 April
Here are the full date listings of all the main public service strikes planned for April.
Junior doctors in England represented by the British Medical Association (BMA) continue strike action.
Wednesday 12 April
Junior doctors in England represented by the British Medical Association (BMA) continue strike action.
Thursday 13 April
Junior doctors in England represented by the British Medical Association (BMA) continue strike action.
Friday 14 April
Junior doctors in England represented by the British Medical Association (BMA) continue strike action.
Monday 17 April
DVSA driving examiners represented by Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) will strike in North-east England and Scotland.
Tuesday 18 April
DVSA driving examiners represented by Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) will continue to strike in North-east England and Scotland.
Thursday 20 April
DVSA driving examiners represented by Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) will strike in North-west England and Yorkshire and the Humber.
Friday 21 April
DVSA driving examiners represented by Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) will continue to strike in North-west England and the Humber.
Monday 24 April
DVSA driving examiners represented by Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) will strike in the East of England, East Midlands, West Midlands and parts of London.
Tuesday 25 April
DVSA driving examiners represented by Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) will continue to strike in the East of England, East Midlands, West Midlands and parts of London.
Thursday 27 April
DVSA driving examiners represented by Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) will strike in London, South-east England, South-west England and Wales.
Friday 28 April
DVSA driving examiners represented by Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) will continue to strike in London, South-east England, South-west England and Wales.
1,000 members of PCS due to walk out in a significant escalation
The PCS in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will go on strike from 3 April to 5 May. 1,000 members at eight sites are due to walk out in a significant escalation of the union’s ongoing dispute over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security.
Mark Serwotka, General Secretary at PCS, has written to the Government calling for urgent talks in a bid to resolve the dispute, warning the 5-week long walkout is likely to have a ‘significant impact’ on the delivery of passports.
But the Home Office said the Passport Office has already processed more than 2.7 million applications in 2023 alone. They stated over 99.7 per cent of standard applications are being processed within 10 weeks, with the best part of those delivered to customers well under this timeframe.
Passport worries for travellers
Jo Rhodes, deputy editor of Which? Travel, said the strikes will be of concern to “hundreds of thousands of travellers who need to renew in the coming months”.
Currently, the official guidance from the Passport Office states that it takes up to 10 weeks for new passports to be processed. However, Ms Rhodes warned this could increase.
She said: “Anyone due to travel this summer should check their passport’s expiry date carefully, as well as the number of months validity required by their destination. If you do need to renew your passport, apply as early as possible.”
No current plans to change 10-week guidance
A Downing Street spokesman said: “There are no current plans to change the guidance that people should allow up to 10 weeks to get a passport.
“The Home Office will work hard to manage the impact of this strike action to ensure they can still provide the vital service to the British public as you would expect ahead of the summer where we fully acknowledge that many people will want to get away and enjoy the summer with their family.
“So we will do everything we can to mitigate the impact of the strikes.”
Final thought
As hundreds of thousands of people were hard hit by delays in passport processing just last year, it’s clear that ministers must work with unions to better the pay and conditions, as well as temporarily extend the 10 week processing time to avoid another disappointing summer for holiday-goers.
“For anybody that’s wanting to go away in the summer this is probably going to put a massive strain on them because we don’t know what the backlog is going to be from these strikes. So we’re just trying to say to everyone if you know it’s coming up just get it done now,” Natalie Taylor, a Travel Agent at Hays Travel said.