The PCS says its members are not "bowler-hatted Sir Humphreys"

Q: What is the main issue driving this dispute?

A: The main issue is what Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) general secretary Mark Serwotka calls "poverty pay" in the service.

The deadlines for settling this year's pay claims in the five departments were in July and August 2003. The pay year goes from July 2003 to July 2004.

Members are said to be angry that below inflation pay rises were imposed before staff had voted on whether to accept them.

Q: Which departments and services are involved?

A: Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Home Office, Department for Constitutional Affairs, Treasury Solicitor's department - which specialises in legal work for the public sector - and the Prison Service.

Although pay bargaining has to be done by individual departments the different sections are co-ordinating their action.

In separate talks, the union is calling on the government to reinstate a national pay agreement framework - something that used to exist but was dismantled under the Conservatives in the 1990s.

The main services that would be disrupted if strikes went ahead are job centres, benefits offices, pensions services, immigration and asylum services, county courts, and the Child Support Agency.

Q: What pay rises have been offered and why is there disagreement over what they mean for employees' pay packets?

A: The union has accused the government of dressing up this year's pay offers to make them appear more generous than they are.

One issue for the union is that the figures the government quotes include commitments made in previous pay deals, that should be honoured anyway.

For example, the Home Office says salaries should now be 5.67% higher than in June 2003.

But the PCS disputes this, saying that once prior pay commitments and a 2.5% increase for cost of living - from 1 January 2004 - is spread across the whole pay year, the rise is just 1.3%.

The union wants the government to stick to existing deals that move staff up the scale within the band for their jobs, and award a cost of living increase in line with inflation.

Q: What kind of salaries are the lower paid civil service workers earning?

A: According to the PCS, one in four civil service workers earn less than �13,750, while 41% earn less than �15,700.

The union says more than 20,000 staff in the DWP had to claim the same benefits that they administered because of their low pay rates.

In the DWP, the starting salary is �10,300.

Q: Where would the government get the money to fund the workers' demands?

A: The PCS insists the government would not need to raise taxes to find the money.

It claims the departments in question are currently under-spending and have the money available.

But ministers dispute the claims, and say they have no more money available to spend on salaries.