HP's DWP staff to strike today

HP staff working for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are to begin industrial action today following an announcement that they might face job cuts that could affect up to 200 staff.

In a ballot conducted by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), 92.5 per cent voted for industrial action.

The staff have said they will not co-operate with the decision to export jobs from sites in Newcastle, Lytham and Sheffield to Bangalore in India.

The move could lead to the loss of up to 200 posts.

PCS has said that savings on IT would be overshadowed by the cost of lost tax revenue and increased benefit payments to those losing their jobs.

The union added that it will commission research into the plans to offshore these functions.

"The government is cutting public spending and jobs in the belief that the private sector will step in and create other jobs to plug the gap," a PCS spokesperson told Computing.

"This offshoring decision is the first of potentially many to send work overseas. It is a direct consequence of the government demanding reductions on the contracts it already has."

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka added: "[the government] cannot simultaneously demand cuts from private contractors and then expect them to create jobs."