Up to 250,000 members of the Civil Service could go on strike on 5 November after members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) voted by two to one in favour of industrial action.
PCS members voted for the strike in response to government plans to cut 100,000 jobs in the Civil Service.
The union said the job cuts will decimate public services and undermine services delivered to all sections of society.
The one-day stoppage will be the biggest in a generation and the first national strike by civil servants in more than a decade. It will hit services across the UK, ranging from the vehicle licencing agency, Jobcentres and benefit offices, to the Inland Revenue and customs operations.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said members would not tolerate the Government’s “slash and burn approach to public services”.
“The people going on strike on 5 November aren’t faceless bureaucrats, but people providing essential services who are consistently taken for granted,” he said.
