It's not just teachers who are on strike today. Several unions have chosen to co-ordinate their action - so train drivers, university lecturers and civil servants are all going walking out.

Union leaders say it is the biggest day of industrial action in more than a decade.

So how will today’s train strikes affect you?

• Train drivers who are members of the Aslef union are on strike
• Most train companies across England are affected
• Disruption is also expected on some services between England and Scotland, and between England and Wales
• Customers are encouraged to check their route before travelling

• The unions are in dispute with the government and rail companies about pay, job cuts and changes to terms and conditions.
• Rail-industry bosses say changes need to be agreed to afford pay increases and modernise the railway

Read more:Train drivers to go on strike

Bethan Lewis
Wales education correspondent

Most of Wales’ 1,500 schools will be affected by today’s strike.

The full picture won’t be clear until later on Wednesday, but it looks like around a third will be fully closed.

Hundreds of others have told some classes to stay at home, but there are some open as normal.

In Blaenau Gwent in the south east, school gates are shut in all but one school, but in rural Ceredigion, all are open with only a handful telling some pupils not to go in.

Some 13,000 NEU members were balloted in Wales and turnout was high enough by support staff as well as teachers to trigger strike action.

Many primary head teachers who are members of another union, the NAHT, are taking industrial action too.

They aren’t on strike but they are limiting tasks to core hours and won’t help councils identify who’s striking or not.

Talks between unions and the Welsh government - including a one-off payment being offered to teachers - have so far failed to resolve the dispute.

Discussions will carry on, but too late to avoid action that will see thousands of pupils having to stay at home today.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb is "not telling the truth when he says there are negotiations going on", according to the National Education Union (NEU).

Kevin Courtney, general secretary of the NEU, told BBC Newsnight last night that the schools minister was being "fanciful" and the government had made no pay offers to teachers.

He said, more than 40,000 teachers had joined the union since strike action was announced and predicted "more than 200,000" could walk out.

"We're going on strike to reduce the amount of disruption to education", said Courtney.

Image source, Getty Images

Childcare options

Many parents will be taking time off work or relying on relatives or friends to look after their children today.

Remember when using friends for childcare, there are some rules on reciprocal childcare, external for children under eight - you might need to register for Ofsted.

If friends aren’t giving you money or vouchers in exchange for childcare, or if you’re only caring for their child for less than three hours, you don’t have to register with Ofsted.

If you need to take leave to look after your children, you can take time off work for emergency childcare, external but you will need to check with your employer if you will be paid.

You might also be able to take annual leave or unpaid parental leave.

Breakfast and after-school clubs

If your child attends a breakfast or after-school club on school premises, head teachers will make the decision on whether there are enough staff to run it safely.

If it’s run by a private provider, it’s best to check whether it is still running today.

Free school meals

If your child is eligible for benefits-related free school meals and your school is open, your child should still receive a meal or an alternative like a packed lunch.

If the school is closed, they could get a food parcel. In Scotland and Wales, some parents may be given money to cover the cost.

Nathan Standley
Education reporter

Teachers don’t have to tell their school if they’ll strike or not, so many schools won’t know until later just how many staff they have, and whether or not they can open as normal.

However, Sally Haslewood’s daughters have already been told to stay at home today.

Their school in Harrogate has told parents it’ll only be open for Year 11 and 13 students sitting exams, as well as vulnerable pupils.

Sally’s daughters, in Years 7 and 9, are “delighted” at getting some time off - but Sally says she is concerned about more teaching time being missed after Covid.

“I’ve got a lot of sympathy for teachers, but my priority is my own children’s education and they’ve both missed such a lot already,” she says.

Sally, who founded the online parenting network Mumbler, also questions whether strike action is a fair way for teachers to achieve their aims.

“I’m not getting a big pay rise, and the cost of living affects us all,” she says. “There’s nowhere for self-employed people to go and get a pay increase like that.”

Entrenched disagreement means more strikes to comepublished at 06:13 Greenwich Mean Time 1 February 2023

06:13 GMT 1 February 2023

Chris Mason
Political editor

Walkout Wednesday. After a winter of industrial action, the diary peppered with strikes here and there, today a series of strikes unprecedented in this current wave of unrest.

It is symptomatic of the central truth here: in any dispute, the actors on either side have choices, and constraints.

The government is choosing, because of the economic constraints it argues limits it, to insist there's no extra money to offer striking workers.

Trades unions are choosing to walk out, because their members' living standards have been constrained, even crushed, and they have mandates to strike.

Ministers insist spiralling prices, inflation is the bogeyman they want to floor, or at least shrink.

Labour claim the Conservatives have "deliberately stoked conflict", as they put it, a charge strenuously denied by the government.

Bluntly, there is entrenched disagreement and a calendar being filled with yet more strikes.

Nathan Standley
Education reporter

Lisa Westerman has taught in state secondary schools for 27 years.

A mum-of-three from Pontefract, her two youngest - in Year 11 and Year 13 - are both likely to be impacted by the strikes.

But she says today’s strike action is“absolutely essential”.

“It feels like there’s nothing else we can do now to have our voices heard,” she says.

“It’s like nurses and paramedics - none of us want to be on strike, losing pay, but we can’t afford not to.

As an early careers mentor and teacher working in a range of schools, Lisa says she is also seeing the crisis in teacher recruitment and retention first hand.

Last year only 59% of the target numbers started training to be secondary school teachers, down from 79% the previous year.

“It’s distressing how many kids are taught by supply teachers, not specialists in that subject - and parents don’t know this,” Lisa says.

“My daughter has had 11 maths teachers in five years and that’s a good school, a school that shouldn’t struggle to recruit staff.

“Schools do their very best to ensure a specialist teacher is always in front of a class but there just aren’t enough.”

Image source, Getty Images

It’s about pay. Teachers' salaries fell by an average of 11% in real terms between 2010 and 2022, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Unions claim teacher pay has fallen by as much as 23% in that time. In England and Wales, most teachers had a 5% rise last year.

In Northern Ireland many teachers were offered 3.2% for 2021/22 and 2022/23, and in Scotland they have been offered up to 6.85%.

Unions argue these are pay cuts because of inflation, but the government says it has already agreed to an extra £2bn in school funding in England.

For more information on teacher’s pay demands and how the strikes will impact you, read our explainer.

Image source, Getty Images

Thousands of schools are facing disruption today as teachers take strike action, but they aren’t the only ones.

• Teachers in the NEU union are walking out in England and Wales, as well as support staff in Wales. The union says more than 100,000 teachers could take part, affecting 23,000 out of around 26,000 schools
• Many schools in Aberdeen and Clackmannanshire will be closed today as members of the Educational Institute of Scotland union continue their rolling strike action
• Thousands of staff at 150 universities across the UK are taking industrial action
• Meanwhile, about 100,000 civil servants in 124 government departments and other bodies are on strike in a dispute over pay and conditions
• Train drivers who are members of the Aslef union are on strike. Most train companies across England are affected
• Bus drivers employed by Abellio in London are also taking industrial action

Hello and welcome to our live coverage as hundreds of thousands of workers get ready to join picket lines across the country.

Teachers, university staff, civil servants, as well as train drivers and some bus workers are all taking part in strike action today.

We aim to keep across all of the disputes and find out how they are affecting you, thanks to our team of reporters around the UK.

Stick with us as we bring you all the latest news and reaction.