Civil servant strikes: hundreds of JobCentre workers to walk out of Liverpool and Glasgow centres in pay row

Hundreds of civil servants working in government-funded employment agencies and social security offices plan to stage a fresh strike in a long-running dispute over jobs, pay, pensions and conditions.

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said more than 600 of its members who work at 13 different JobCentres across Glasgow and Liverpool will walk out for five days, from 2 May.

The union said Glasgow has been targeted for disruptive action because it is one of the areas piloting a scheme on claimants having to attend an office several times over two weeks, while Liverpool will face action because of plans to close a local JobCentre office.

General secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This targeted action in Glasgow and Liverpool will severely disrupt the DWP’s ill-thought-out plans. Ministers might have hoped our members’ anger had dissipated as our dispute has gone on, but it hasn’t, and it won’t until ministers make a meaningful offer.”

A Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesperson said: “We greatly value the work of our staff but the PCS union’s demands would cost the country an unaffordable £2.4 billion at a time when our focus must be on bringing down inflation to ease the pressure on households across the country."

They assured the public that “benefits, the state pension, and child maintenance payments are paid automatically and people who rely on that support will continue to receive it".

A number of PCS members are already on strike this week in the Passport Office, Ofgem, and Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, ahead of a nationwide walkout by 133,000 civil servants on 28 April.

It comes after the government announced that pay rises would be limited to 4.5% to 5%, with PCS describing the pay announcement as an “insult”. Members of the PCS union have been calling for a 10% pay rise, better pensions, job security and no cuts to redundancy terms.

Prospect said its members will also walk out on 10 May and 7 June across government departments and other areas such as the Met Office and Health and Safety Executive.