HUNDREDS of pensions staff in Simonstone will go on strike tomorrow in protest over job cuts.

Around 30,000 jobs are being cut from the Department of Work and Pensions and now the Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents more than 310,000 civil servants, is taking industrial action tomorrow and Friday.

The strike comes in the same week that a document suggesting large chunks of the department's work could be transferred overseas was leaked from the office of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions John Hutton.

The pensions centre at Simonstone employs nearly 500 people and union members are worried job losses are affecting the service's ability to do its job.

DWP Group Assistant Secretary Tom Penn said: "The staffing levels are being cut as a result of the chancellor's announcement a couple of years ago. The DWP is the biggest department so we are taking the biggest hit. We've got to lose 30,000 heads, 15,000 have gone and another 15,000 are planned.

"At the same time, the pensions service has centralised a lot of the work which has withdrawn a lot of face to face contact. The office in Burnley is quite large but you can only contact it by telephone."

Hundreds of pension offices have closed across the country and Mr Penn said the service's computer system was also 'inadequate' and workers did not think they were offering a decent service.

The Public and Commercial Services Union reacted angrily to the contents of the leaked document 'Offshoring Process' revealed this week.

The union is demanding to know what services are affected and how far advanced the plans are.

Press officer Alex Flynn said it was too early to say whether jobs could go at Simonstone as a result.

He said: "One of the things we are asking the department for is clarification on who the service providers are, what plans there are, how far advanced those plans are and the work it effects."

Leigh Lewis, a senior official at the DWP, has denied there are plans to move civil service jobs out of the country. He said: "We have not moved any of the department's jobs offshore and we have absolutely no intention of doing."