Driving examiners will launch a five-day strike on Wednesday as part of escalating industrial action by civil servants in a dispute over pay, jobs and pensions.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) in 71 test centres in eastern England and the Midlands will walk out.

They are employed by the Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency (DVSA) as driving examiners and local driving test managers.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Our members have been offered a pay rise of just 2% at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is above 10%.

“We know our action will cause widespread disruption and inconvenience to people in eastern England and the Midlands – hundreds of driving tests have been cancelled already in other parts of the country – but the Government is to blame.

“These strikes could be called off tomorrow if Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt put some money on the table.”

PCS members working as Border Force officers at Gatwick, Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and Glasgow airports and the port of Newhaven will resume strikes on Wednesday for four days in the same dispute.