Oxford's benefits office in Floyds Row, off St Aldate's, was picketed today by union members as part of a low-pay campaign.

Members of the Public and Commercial Service (PCS) union were taking part in a 48-hour strike - the second in their long-running pay dispute.

Staff at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) administration office at Oxford Business Park, Cowley, and at JobCentre Plus in Worcester Street also took part.

They were among 100,000 workers who went on strike throughout Britain on one of the worst days of industrial unrest in the history of the Civil Service.

Three Government departments were hit by walkouts caused by separate deadlocked pay disputes.

The action could affect work on compiling statistics about strikes, as the union members included 1,700 staff at the Office of National Statistics in London, Newport in South Wales, Southport and Titchfield in Hampshire.

The strike by 4,500 administrative and support workers at the Prison Service in England and Wales is expected to disrupt the transfer of prisoners.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka repeated his called for Government ministers to intervene.

He said civil servants were fed up with being "underpaid and undervalued". He added: "Rather than attempt to find a compromise with its workforce to deal with the issue of low pay, senior management prefer the bully-boy tactics of imposing divisive bonus schemes and real-term pay cuts. Unfortunately there will be disruption to the public, but if anyone is going to point the finger, don't point it at the thousands of low-paid public servants, but the senior managers on six-figure salaries."

Mr Serwotka said the union was threatening to take the DWP to the High Court unless it withdraws a controversial pay performance system, arguing that it was a breach of contract.

The DWP dispute has been rumbling for months over a pay deal which was due to be settled last July.

Earlier this month, Kate Douglas, joint PCS branch secretary for DWP staff in Oxfordshire, said the union had been left with no choice but to strike as talks had failed to resolve the continuing dispute.