GWENT Jobcentres and benefit offices are set to be hit by a 48-hour national strike later this month.

Following the breakdown of talks with senior officials at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) announced today that it would be calling the stoppage on January 26 and 27.

The strike, which will affect Jobcentres, benefit offices and pension centres across the country, as well as the Child Support Agency (CSA), is the result of an escalating dispute about planned job cuts, including about 2,000 in Wales.

Union representatives said the DWP had refused to halt cuts while an objective joint assessment of adequate staffing levels based on operational need was carried out, and had refused to guarantee there would be no compulsory redundancies.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Strike action is not a step we take lightly.

"But against a backdrop of the DWP refusing to acknowledge the damage being wrought by job cuts, our members will take action to defend the services they deliver."

The government said it was disappointed the PCS had chosen to take strike action.