A SECOND day of picketing the offices of the Department for Work and Pensions is expected to take place today as members of the Public Commercial Services union in Tayside and Fife continue their 48-hour strike.

The first day attracted some of the largest crowds on picket lines in recent years as hundreds of staff demonstrated against further job cuts.

The union said 80,000 workers walked out, leading to the closure of offices across the country with others operating with a skeleton staff.

The DWP refuted this claim, saying 40,000 workers took industrial action, amounting to a third of the department’s staff, with only 53 Jobcentres closing.

However, while the union branch secretary of Tayside, Ali Arnott, said two-day strikes had been prone to attract fewer members as they wore on, he believed the strength of feeling among members would ensure another large presence today.

“Pickets were formed outside every DWP office in Dundee yesterday and I would say that approximately 80% of staff were taking part in the strike, which is a really positive turnout,” he said. “I feel confident that the feeling among members of the PCS is so strong that they will be out in force again today.

“Hundreds of staff from branches of benefit offices, pension centres and the Child Support Agency took up their posts outside every local office shortly after 8.30 am in response to Government plans for a further 30,000 job cuts in the DWP.”

Although the second day will see many people again deprived of vital benefits services, Mr Arnott repeated his desire to see minimal disruption caused to the public’s day-to-day business.

He said that after the first day of picket action there had been nothing but strong support from the public, as many stopped to voice encouragement. “There has been a constant cloud of uncertainty hanging over staff at branches throughout Tayside for too long now,” he said.

“We are in the midst of this action and I think the public realise that many of the issues concern the very high risk that the service to the public will suffer in the long run. As jobs and services are cut at locally based services, the public need to realise they will be dealing with centralised benefit processing and centralised customer call centres.”

A spokesperson for the DWP expressed disappointment at the industrial action but insisted “robust contingency plans” were coping.

In Fife, every worker at St Andrews and Leven Jobcentres was on strike and Kirkcaldy’s social security office was closed, while Cowdenbeath Jobcentre and social security offices were each operating with only one person.

Jobcentres in Glenrothes, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Cupar were said to be coping with very few workers.

Fife union branch secretary Brian Nairn said the action had received the best support ever from staff and the public, with pickets outside each DWP office.

“We’ve had cars peeping their horns and people coming up to speak to us,” he said.

“Four people stopped me and said they thought it was terrible that the Government was replacing face-to-face meetings with remote call centres.”