JOB Centres across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight were today running skeleton services after up to 1,300 staff went on strike for the first day of a planned 48-hour walkout.

Union leaders estimated 80 to 85 per cent of members supported the latest action in an industrial dispute over pay and bonuses,.

Unions also say most offices have had pickets outside and claimed managers were being forced on to front desks in order to keep branches open.

Geoff Lumley, chairman of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight branch of the Public and Commercial Services union, said: "It's looking very good indeed.

"About 80 to 85 per cent of the membership is out on strike and we hope they will be tomorrow as well. There have been no office closures because managers are keeping them open with a skeleton service and are out of their offices and working on the front line. They are finding out about the real world. There are also pickets outside most offices and support is good. There's a lot of anger in the civil service."

Sir Richard Mottram, permanent secretary at the Department of Work and Pensions, said the strike was unjustified, saying: "I cannot believe that the strike can be justified when there are other avenues the union can take."