Work and pensions staff to strike

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Up to 80,000 staff at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will walk out next Monday and Tuesday, threatening disruption to jobcentres, benefit offices, pension centres and the Child Support Agency.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said the walkout, following a strike in December, was part of a long-running dispute over the imposition of a three year pay deal, which officials said will leave 40% of staff receiving no wage rise this year.

The union will lobby MPs in Westminster calling on the Government to review its 2% pay cap in the public sector, arguing that civil servants deserved a rise of 6% to make up for recent below-inflation deals.

PCS members have been involved in industrial action over pay in recent weeks at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Transport Department.

General secretary Mark Serwotka, said: "The budget is an ideal opportunity for the Government to address its policy which is driving down pay across the civil service.

"The 2% pay cap is hitting some of the lowest paid in the public sector who are seeing their pay cut in real terms as a result. It is scandalous that people working in areas such as jobcentres and benefits should be expected to stomach a 0% increase this year.

"The outbreak of industrial action in the civil service and next week's two day stoppage in the DWP illustrates the depth of anger being generated by the Government's pay cap.

"With a quarter of the civil service earning less than £15,500 and starting salaries as low as the minimum wage, the government have got to recognise that civil and public servants are not the causes of inflation but the victims of inflation.

"The Government can longer preside over a culture of low pay and need to review the 2% pay cap and pay a fair living wage to the people who deliver vital public services."