Staff at Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs stage regional walkouts from Monday
The Public and Commercial Services union opposes government plans to close HMRC walk-in tax advice centres and divert inquiries to jobcentres. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Tens of thousands of workers from the two largest government departments will hold joint strikes this week in a long-running dispute over pay, pensions and jobs. Members of the Public and Commercial Services union employed by the Department for Work and Pensions at jobcentres and benefit offices will join tax workers from HM Revenue and Customs in a series of regional walkouts from Monday to Friday. The strikes are part of the union's three-month civil service-wide campaign of industrial action against spending and other cuts. The union said the two departments are at the heart of the political debate about public spending.
PCS general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: "These workers are the backbone of our country's public services and do not deserve to be treated with contempt by ministers who are refusing to even talk to us about the cuts they are imposing.
The union is also campaigning against government plans to close all 281 of HMRC's walk-in tax advice centres in the UK and divert inquiries to jobcentres. Pilot closures of 13 inquiry centres in the north-east of England starts tomorrow.
