JobCentre workers to stage fresh strike in pay row

Hundreds of civil servants working in JobCentres are 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 at 13 JobCentres in Glasgow and Liverpool will walk out for five days from May 2.

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.

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

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 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.

“Benefits, the state pension and child maintenance payments are paid automatically and people who rely on that support will continue to receive it.”