JOBCENTRE and benefits office workers in Bolton and Bury are to stage a two-day strike in a row over job cuts.

They will be among of 90,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) who voted in favour of the walkout on January 26 and 27 by 60 per cent.

When it launched the strike ballot in December, the PCS warned that JobCentres, benefits offices and pension centres were facing "meltdown because of the loss of 15,000 jobs from the Department of work and Pensions in the past 18 months, under plans to cut the size of the Civil Service.

Another 15,000 jobs will be axed in the next few years, but the union said services to the public had already deteriorated, with people waiting longer to see jobs advisers or finding themselves unable to get through to call centres to arrange a meeting.

A PCS spokesman said: "In some areas, including Bolton, we have heard of 80 per cent of telephone calls going unanswered because of staff shortages.

"The cuts have left an incredible stress on people and they are not able to cope."

A DWP spokeswoman said strike action would not help benefit claimants.