Industrial action and potential supply chain disruption
14 December 2022
The Public Commercial Services (PCS) Union’s National Executive Committee has announced strike action affecting UK Border Force on 23 December, 24 December, 25 December, 26 December (until circa. 7am), 28 December, 29 December, 30 December and 31 December (until circa. 7am).
The locations are Birmingham Airport, Cardiff Airport, Gatwick Airport, Glasgow Airport, Heathrow Terminals 2,3,4 & 5, Manchester Airport and Port of Newhaven. Resource and staffing requirements at every port are reviewed continually by Border Force who work closely with port operators to ensure resources are deployed to meet demand as and when they are required.
The impact will be most heavily felt by passengers at airports and significant impact on the supply of medical products is not expected, however some delays are anticipated as there is some reliance on air freight. DHSC has requested that companies raise any issues through the Medical Devices and Clinical Consumable (MDCC) Contingency Planning team’s mailbox mdcc-contingencyplanning@dhsc.gov.uk.
A reminder that the National Supply Disruption Response (NSDR) remains operational and available to help support instances of critical supply disruption where no other mitigations are available and patient care is at risk. NSDR will be available throughout the strike period, including on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
