Central Beds Council said yesterday it is working to minimise disruption to local services after a number of unions called on members to take one-day strike action tomorrow (July 10).
But the council said that while it will concentrate in particular on services which protect the public and support vulnerable people, residents should be prepared for some level of disruption.
More than a million council staff, health workers, teachers, civil servants and firefighters across the country are expected to take industrial action.
In Central Beds, leisure centres, pest control and bin collections, which are operated by contractors, will continue as normal and the council anticipates that appointments for things like registering births and deaths will not be affected. People with appointments will be notified if this changes.
Some services, including customer contact centres, may be subject to delay and residents may want to consider getting in touch with the council another day if their query is not urgent.
Schools in Central Bedfordshire will have their own procedures in place and will contact families directly to let them know about any full or partial closures.
Schools will also notify the council of any closures and that information will be regularly updated on the council’s website from 5pm today (July 9).
Parents and carers can sign up for updates on schools closures by going to www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/schoolclosures and following the instructions on the ‘register for updates’ tab.
The council will be regularly updating its website with details of how the strike action is affecting services and will also be posting messages on social media.
For the latest updates go to www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/strike, @letstalkcentral on Twitter or www.facebook.com/letstalkcentral
Civil servants in the Public and Commercial Services union are joining the co-ordinated public sector strike after voting to take action over pay.
PCS members, including Passport Office staff, will join striking council and school workers from the GMB union.
The National Union of Teachers and Unison are also walking out.