GOVERNMENT services look set to be disrupted in Hatfield next week after civil servants voted in favour of industrial action.

Staff at the HM Revenue and Customs office in Woods Avenue and the Jobcentre Plus in Salisbury Square are expected to walk out for 48 hours from Monday in a dispute with the Government over redundancy pay.

Court staff, coastguards and driving test examiners are also set to man picket lines or stay at home.

Across the UK as a whole, it is anticipated that as many as 270,000 public sector workers will take part in the strike.

The walkout follows the results of a ballot organised by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), in which 63.4 per cent of its members voted in favour of strike action.

A PCS spokesman said the strike had been called after the Government changed the civil service compensation scheme.

He said: “These changes will see staff robbed of up to a third of their entitlements and see loyal civil servants lose tens of thousands of pounds if they are forced out of a job.”

However, the Government believes the changes are necessary in order to make efficiency savings of �500m and believes its departments are “well-prepared” for any strike action.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions, which oversees Jobcentre Plus, said: “We have successfully managed several periods of industrial action in recent years with minimal disruption to customers.”