More than 10,000 courts service staff this week refused to cross picket lines as part of a national strike by civil servants over cuts to redundancy pay, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) claimed. However, a spokeswoman for HM Courts Service said that, while there were some reductions in services, most courts sat as planned and no courts closed as a result of the strike. The Cabinet Office said that, although 83,800 PCS members took part in the strike on Monday, around 85% of civil servants worked as normal.

Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell said the ‘low turnout’ supported the view that ‘the right deal has been reached for both civil servants and taxpayers’.