Crown prosecutors have voted in favour of striking next week over pensions reforms - but their union has advised them to tread carefully if they want to avoid disciplinary action.

More than two-thirds - 68% - of First Division Association (FDA) members backed a 23 March strike in protest over government plans to raise their retirement age from 60 to 65. The FDA represents senior civil servants, including Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyers.


CPS lawyers will join other civil servants and local government employees in the half-day walkout, led by unions including the FDA, Unison and Amicus.


They argue that the planed pension reforms will force people to work for longer than they like, while at the sametime making others retire before they are ready to give up work.


Kris Venkatasami, national prosecutors' convenor for the FDA, said it was unclear whether courts would close as a result of court staff downing tools. If they remained open and Crown prosecutors were scheduled to appear, it should be business as usual, he explained.


The Law Society's code of conduct says: 'It is not improper for an employed solicitor to strike or take other industrial action, but the solicitor must have regard to his or her duties to the court and third parties,' it says. Solicitors should also notify any other party that might be affected.


Mr Venkatasami urged both solicitors and barristers to stick to the guidelines. 'If you are due in court that day then you should attend,' he advised. 'But if you are in the office and want to exercise your right to strike, then do so.'


He said the unions were still trying to avoid the strikes through negotiations. 'We are not trying to bring the government to its knees, bring chaos to the courts or set murderers on the loose,' he insisted.