A number of the Department of Work and Pensions offices involved were again picketed by members of the Public and Commercial Services Union as part of their industrial action over pay.

It appears the strike was once more having a more severe effect in Fife, with the majority of DWP offices there closed completely.

In Tayside, however, most offices were open, but offering varying degrees of restricted service.

A DWP spokesperson said the department had been able to open Jobcentre offices in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy, but both were offering only limited services. Offices in Cupar and St Andrews were both open and offering near normal services.

As far as Tayside was concerned, there was “less disruption” today compared to yesterday.

An extra dimension was added today to the civil servants’ ire over salaries when driving examiners across the UK staged their own one-day strike.

Although technically a separate dispute, the examiners are also PCS members and their grievance is similarly centred on pay.

John Miller, branch chairman of the PCS driving examiners' branch in Scotland, said this afternoon there had been “tremendous support” for the strike action.

He believed most driving test centres in Scotland would be either closed, or at best offering only the most limited service.

The Driving Standards Agency said up to 5000 tests could be cancelled across Britain because of the strike, including, in Tayside, four in Arbroath, six in Blairgowrie, seven in Dundee, and 14 in Perth, including four LGV tests.

Meanwhile, Mr Ali Arnott, PCS Tayside branch secretary for DWP members, said the effects of the strike action today were broadly similar to yesterday.

Mr Arnott said further action by PCS members would now include a work-to-rule, a ban on overtime, and a policy of non-co-operation with a performance development system which the DWP was trying to introduce.

The PCS staff in the DPW have been seeking a pay deal based around an 8% increase and a “catch up” element, which the union says is necessary to make up for the way members’ pay has fallen behind in previous years.

The union says what management has offered — in some cases, it claims, only between 2% and 2.5% in real terms — is wholly unacceptable.

Mr Arnott’s counterpart in Fife, Brian Nairn, said he was not surprised by the continuing strength of support among the membership in the Kingdom.

“The members are angry about the pay levels and the way the issue is being treated by senior management,” he said.

Mr Nairn said there was considerable disparity in pay between staff in DWP offices and other Civil Service departments, despite the type of work being done by DWP staff being largely similar to work in other departments.

“Obviously members are keen to give their full support for a campaign for decent pay,” he said.