Up to 270,000 civil servants have begun a 48-hour strike over redundancy pay, in the biggest walkout by the sector in more than two decades.

Courts, jobcentres, driving tests, tax offices, border controls and passports are amongst some of the services that will be affected

The strike, called by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), will also see civilian staff working for the Met Police and security staff working in the House of Parliament taking strike action for the first time in over 25 years.

PCS is taking industrial action as it claims members could lose a third of their entitlement over cuts under the civil service compensation scheme.

Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell said the decision to strike was very disappointing, "especially given that less than one in five of their own members voted in favour of strike action, and that, overall, this figure represents only around 10% of the total civil service workforce."