Wednesday walkout over closures

Members across the Department for Education united for a two-hour stoppage over office closures.

The department has confirmed it will close six out of 12 DfE sites – a decision which puts 500 jobs at risk with staff either having to quit or spend hours travelling to other sites.

The union has stated that just one of these closures will cost the DfE more than the alternative proposals put forward by PCS and local authorities in these areas, while education secretary Michael Gove and his department are accused of using the DfE as an ideological testing ground for wider civil service cuts.

The two-hour walkout takes place from 3pm and follows the strike in March when more than 1,000 members took action against the cuts.