Thousands of council staff are striking over pay, forcing schools to close and hitting services, and the Unison and Unite unions expect a further 600,000 workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to join the 48-hour action, which began at midnight.

Members of the PCS union, who include driving test examiners and coastguards, are also striking in a separate row.

Council employers say they have reached the “limit of what is affordable”.

The strike will see schools and libraries closed, and disrupt rubbish collections and other town hall services. In Wales, one in three schools are closed, while a third of all households in Southampton will not have their rubbish collected this week.

The council action by the Unison and Unite unions comes after members rejected a 2.45% pay offer. The unions are asking for a rise of 6%, or 50p an hour. They say the pay deals are the rate of inflation and would mean an effective pay cut for their members.

The RPI inflation measure - often used as a benchmark in pay negotiations - is 4.6%.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “The pounds in local government workers’ pockets are turning to pennies.

“The cost of everyday essentials like milk, bread, petrol, gas and electricity are going through the roof - our members cannot afford to take another cut in their pay.”

Unite national officer Peter Allenson said its members were “living on the breadline”.

Lucy Marr, who is a Unison member from Hampshire County Council, told the BBC: “Local government workers are the lowest paid in the public sector. We’ve had 10 years of below-inflation pay rises.”

Jan Parkinson, managing director of the local government employers, said: “Our greatest asset is our staff but we have simply reached the limit of what is affordable.

“We remain willing to talk to the unions on a constructive basis about the future employment conditions of our workforce but this week’s strikes will not change the fact that our last offer was our final offer.”

The Local Government Association (LGA) said a survey of councils suggested less than a quarter of staff would take part.

In the PCS union dispute, driving test examiners will strike on Wednesday, and Valuation Office Agency staff on Wednesday and Thursday. Home Office and Land Registry workers will strike for part of Friday, coastguards for 48 hours from Friday and the Identity and Passport Service for 72 hours from 23 July.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown sees the policy as essential in the fight against inflation.

Mr Brown’s spokesman said: “We have had to make some difficult decisions over the last year or two in relation to a wide range of public sector workers in order keep inflation lower than it might otherwise have been, which has enabled the Bank of England to keep interest rates lower than they would otherwise have been.

“These are difficult economic times and a wide range of public sector workers are also having to accept lower settlements than anybody would have liked to have seen in an ideal world.”