A row has broken out after it emerged that the government is planning to axe up to 18,000 staff from job centres.

Relations between the government and the Public and Commercial Services Union have deteriorated steadily over the last few months.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) hopes to use the money saved to boost the pay of the remaining staff.

According to a document leaked to a national newspaper, the DWP wants to introduce a performance-related pay scheme.

The average DWP wage is £13,400 but up to 10,000 staff earn less than £11,000.

But a DWP spokeswoman said: “Staff were originally consulted in October 2002. We wrote to staff explaining that as part of our modernisation programme staff numbers would be cut by 2006.”