15.16pm

About 42 per cent of JobCentre staff were on strike, according to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

But the action failed to close any of the region’s JobCentres - the only closures being reported in Scotland - with managers understood to be stepping into the breach in some instances.

A DWP spokeswoman said: “We have successfully managed several recent periods of industrial action with minimal disruption.

"98 per cent of DWP claimants receive automated payments, including pensioners and job seekers - these will not be affected by the strike.”

Simon Elliott, a regional representative with the PCS union, said strike action had been “strongly supported” at the JobCentre in Middlesbrough, as well as HRMC tax offices in Middlesbrough and Stockton.

Mr Elliott said: “Many of these offices, including the JobCentre at Middlesbrough, remain open, but with a skeleton staff and they will not be running a normal service.”

He claimed 80 per cent of the union’s 24,000 members in the North-East took part in the strike action.

Mr Elliott added: “Our members and the general public are facing up to a choice - give up or keep fighting over pensions and at the moment that is what we intend to do.”

12.14pm

At Darlington College members of the University and College Union took part in a picket line prior to the start of classes at 9am and displayed banners to passing motorists on Haughton Road.

Kath McColl, a spokeswoman for the college, said a compromise had been agreed so that lecturers could exercise their democratic right to protest without disrupting students’ education.

She said: “The union has been very sensible. The compromise we have agreed means there has been no impact on classes whatsoever.”

12.02pm

Workers at Frankland Prison, Durham City, who belong to Unite and the PCS unions staged a three-hour picket at the jail’s main gate yesterday morning.

“We had a pretty good turnout, about 25 to 30 people on the gate despite the horrible weather," said Unite’s national chairman for the prison sector, David Fleming. The workers on strike included instructors, clerical, maintenance and catering staff.

11.30am

A FRESH strike by public sector workers in their bitter row with the Government over pensions was said to be solidly supported today as it emerged that prison officers are also staging protests.

Union leaders predicted that up to 400,000 workers, ranging from police officers and immigration staff to lecturers and job advisers, will be involved in a wave of demonstrations, fuelled by ministers making clear in yesterday's Queens Speech that they are pressing ahead with their controversial reforms.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude described the strike as "futile" and insisted that talks over pensions will not be reopened.

The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said early signs from picket lines showed solid support for the strike, the third major walkout by public sector employees in the past six months in protest at the pension reforms.

Recorded messages on HM Revenue and Customs phones were advising people to call back another day, and there were reports of government offices and jobcentres being closed, said the PCS.

A spokesman said there was very strong support among Border Agency staff at all ports and airports, while in London, 999 call staff and community support workers were out in big numbers.

"Investigators from the Serious Organised Crime Agency are also showing strong support because they are keen to show their solidarity for police colleagues marching today," said an official.

Up to 16,000 off-duty officers will don black caps representing each officer expected to be lost under the Government's budget cuts as they take to the streets today.

The officers, banned from striking under law, will march through central London in a protest against proposed changes to their pay and conditions.

Some 20,000 officers from all 43 forces across England and Wales are expected to take part in the first police march in the capital for more than four years, organisers said.

Prison officers across England, Wales and Scotland are holding protest meetings against Government plans to link their normal pension age to the state pension age.

Tony Stocks, Prison Officers Association chairman at HMP Holme House, Stockton, said: "Our prisons are no place for 68 year old staff. The proposal to make staff work until they are 68 is pure nonsense.

"Prison officers work in a demanding and dangerous environment.

"The Government should stand back and look at what they are proposing; it’s nonsense, there are no soft option jobs in our prisons.

"I would ask members of the public to support us on this issue, if they have relatives aged 68, ask yourself, could my 68 year old relative maintain control on the landings of our prisons?"