We're closing our live coverage on the strike today. Thanks for following.

Today's updates were brought to you by Andrew Humphrey, Jamie Whitehead, Alice Evans, Sarah Fowler, Francesca Gillett, Beth Timmins, Rachel Russell, Nathan Standley, Vanessa Clarke and Gem O'Reilly.

Tomorrow, teachers will continue striking as will some rail workers and university staff.

For more information on the strikes happening tomorrow and later this week, head here.

Alice Evans

Last time we had national teacher strikes, the government and union both released figures on how many schools had been affected in England.

No figures have been released today, although an NEU spokesperson said they assumed the "majority" of schools had been affected either through part or full closure.

Schools should try to stay open if possible on strike days, the government says,, external but fewer than half of the 16,400 state-funded primary and secondary schools in England were fully operational during the first national strike on 1 February.

More than 400,000 teachers, doctors, some BBC staff, Tube staff and civil servants went on strike today – on the same day Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced his Budget.

People marched across central London including to Trafalgar Square and Downing Street – with some civil servants chanting outside as Hunt gave his speech to the Commons. Organisers of the Trafalgar Square rally said at least 40,000 people took part.

Junior doctors were in the final day of their 72-hour strikes across England, while university workers said there had been a "breakthrough" in talks about pay, working conditions and pensions.

There may be more disruption to come this evening as the Tube strikes will continue during the evening rush hour.

Image source, Reuters

We've been hearing more from teachers at the march in central London about why they are going on strike today.

Will Farthing, 28, teaches history at a secondary school but says he struggles with being "paid a pittance".

He said: "You know, I'm in my overdraft at the end of every month because I haven't got enough money. I'm careful with my budgeting, but still, no matter how much you put into it, 60-hour weeks, you're still not getting enough pay for the job and the conditions."

Another teacher at the march, Ferdushi Mohshin from Birkenhead, tells Reuters: "I can't sit back and watch education decimated. It's not just about teacher pay, we're talking about funding for schools."

Image source, Getty Images

We've been working through the detail on the "breakthrough" in the dispute between striking university staff and employers.

Universities UK have agreed to put forward a set of proposals on pay, conditions and pensions - all of which they've been in dispute over with the University and College Union (UCU).

• On conditions, the UCU says a new offer has been agreed to try to end involuntary zero-hour contracts and tackle other casualised contracts, reduce workloads and close equality pay gaps.
• On pensions, it is hoped the new offer will pave the way for the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) to be restored by August 2024. Changes had been introduced to that pension scheme which meant contributions increased and future benefits were reduced, which the UCU wasn’t happy with. Universities UK, on behalf of USS Employers, says the financial improvement of the scheme in recent months has been "remarkable". But exactly how the scheme will be improved for members under the new offer is not yet clear.
• On pay, no new offer has been made since employers made what they called a final 2023-24 pay offer worth between 5% and 8%, at the end of January. Unions have previously said that offer is a real-terms "pay cut".

UCU says strikes scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, and next week are still scheduled as they consult members about the progress that’s been made.

The union's higher education committee will meet on Friday to decide on the next steps.

Image source, EPA

We’ve been hearing from junior doctors who are taking part in their final day of strike action today.

One doctor who works in A&E at a London hospital tells us she’s striking because she wants to see an end to the “dangerous” rota gaps which she says leave only two or three doctors to cover a busy hospital with about 15 wards.

“For a lot of my shifts I don’t go home on time, and it’s purely because there’s an 82-year-old patient who has been in the A&E waiting room for 10 hours so I’m thinking, what can I do to help?”

“It’s the constant pressure which is really draining on the front line.”

The junior doctor says many of her colleagues are leaving the UK for better paid jobs in Australia, the US or New Zealand.

“As someone who was born and brought up in the UK, it’s really sad to see the NHS in this state."

“So the pay restoration is a key factor in this fight. It’s key to keep the doctors in our NHS.

A reminder that junior doctors are asking for a 35% pay rise to cover the cut in their pay by 26% since 2008 once inflation is taken into account. But Health Secretary Steve Barclay has called the request "completely unaffordable".

As well as the public sector strikes happening today, there's also a strike by some Amazon staff at a distribution centre in Coventry.

It's in a row over pay. The GMB union is calling for a pay rise from £10.50 to £15 an hour, but the union is not recognised by Amazon.

Amazon previously said it offered competitive pay which had risen by 29% since 2018, as well as other benefits.

Because the tech giant does not recognise the union, there haven't been any pay negotiations.

The union branded Amazon's 5% pay rise offer, worth about 50p an hour, "derisory" and workers also spoke to the BBC about "severe" conditions including constant monitoring and having toilet breaks timed. Amazon said it has a system "that recognises great performance".

Image source, Getty Images

London Underground train driver Hamza Ansari, 35, from Harrow, says the public have been supportive during the strike action and have even brought the strikers food. He was "amazed" by their solidarity, he says.

"That's an eye-opener for me, because when you read newspapers you always think there are loads of people who are against [the strikes]. But when I was passing a local high school I saw teachers there and people appreciating them," he said from the Aslef picket line in Harrow on the Hill station.

"I've got four kids and a family to run, and if it's going to impact my pay and my conditions, of course I need to take a stand," he said.

He appealed to Transport for London bosses to engage with the drivers on strike: "At least come on the ground and spend a day with us, and understand what we are fighting for, what we're going to lose if you make any change."

Rahib Khan
Education reporter

Image source, Jodie

Jodie has three children aged one, seven and 14. She's juggling being a mum with being a full-time carer for her own mother.

She says having 14-year-old Scarlett off school during the teacher strikes is causing "additional stress" to their already busy home life in Grantham, Lincolnshire.

“Parents were only notified on Monday that we would need to arrange two days of childcare this week. This is not fair, and myself and other parents have been put in a really difficult situation.”

The NEU, which is behind today's strike action, insists parents and the general public are mostly supportive of their campaign for a fully-funded pay rise for teachers.

But Jodie feels every child’s education was disrupted enough during the pandemic, and the strikes aren’t helping.

“My daughter was e-learning throughout Covid, but she didn’t learn what she would have learnt if she was in a classroom. We are still playing catch-up, and now teachers are taking more days off.”

However, Jodie says it is a "blessing" that the school attended by her seven-year-old, who has ADHD, is still open.

Image source, Jodie

As we've been reporting, some 400,000 workers are on strike today - so here's a reminder of why.

Teachers in thousands of schools across England are striking again over pay. Unions want above-inflation increases, plus extra money to ensure pay rises do not come from existing budgets. The government has asked for formal talks on pay, conditions and reform, but only if the National Education Union (NEU) calls off its strikes. The NEU says it will only suspend action if good progress is made first. Most state school teachers in England had a 5% rise in 2022.

Junior doctors who are members of the British Medical Association (BMA) union are on strike over pay too. The BMA says junior doctor roles have seen pay cut by 26% once inflation is taken into account since 2008. Junior doctors in England want a "pay restoration" of 35% to make up for that. They've been on strike since Monday. The government has suggested 3.5%, but unions have made it clear they want more. More on doctors' pay here.

Civil servants working across more than 100 government departments are striking over pay, pensions, job security and redundancy terms. The Public and Commercial Services union is calling for a 10% pay rise. But the government has said the union's demands would cost an "unaffordable £2.4bn". Civil servants have been offered a 2% to 3% increase.

London Underground staff who are part of the Aslef and RMT unions are striking again over pensions, job losses and contractual agreements. Transport for London has to make about £900m savings. Some 600 posts are being closed - the unions say that will leave stations with fewer staff which they say isn't safe. TfL says passenger safety is always a priority and is carrying out a pension review, which is what has sparked the strikes.

Some BBC staff have been striking from 11:00 today in response to plans to merge some local radio shows. The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the proposals would "undermine already hollowed out local radio content across England". The BBC said it had "tried to minimise disruption as much as possible".

Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent

The NEU says its ballot gives it the right to call further strike dates between now and the summer.

So we certainly could see more.

But it’s also stressed that it wants to negotiate with the government. The government says it wants to talk too, but only if the NEU doesn’t have plans for strikes.

Given there are no further dates in the diary, we could well see the two sides come together for talks after this week.

The NEU says it will compare any pay offer that is made - if there is one - to what’s been offered in Scotland and Wales, and decide from there.

It’s been a busy news day with thousands of striking workers demonstrating outside Downing Street, as the chancellor delivered his long-awaited Budget in the Commons. In his announcement, Jeremy Hunt promised a big expansion in state-funded childcare to get more people working and tax breaks for businesses to boost economic growth.

But several unions have accused Hunt of failing to tackle the pay disputes across the UK in his Budget.

Unite's general secretary Sharon Graham said the chancellor “made the wrong choices and delivered a historic betrayal” to NHS workers striking for better pay.

"So while Jeremy Hunt rearranges the deck chairs for corporate Britain, workers in the real economy face a crisis... Since 2010, real wages have fallen by 15% and that's going to get worse."

The Fire Brigades Union general secretary, Matt Wrack, called it a “Budget of cuts” and says the government has “learned nothing from nearly a year of industrial disputes”.

You can follow reaction to the Budget in this live page run by our colleagues. And for a summary of the main announcements, read this.

Nick Johnson
Reporting from Trafalgar Square

It’s taken more than two hours, but the front of the march has now begun to file into Trafalgar Square.

We’re told the back is still at Speaker’s Corner, where we started - an indication of how many people have turned out today.

Huge banners represent the different regional groups of the National Education Union which have descended on the capital today - from Warwickshire to Wirral.

One of the speakers, who’s just received a huge round of applause, has spoken about how early she needed to leave her house in Newcastle-upon-Tyne - so passionate she felt about needing to be here today.

Trafalgar Square feels like ground zero for today’s nationwide strike action. Fluttering blue and yellow flags indicates the arrival of the PCS union members. There are also junior doctors scattered in the crowd - keen to show support for those others taking industrial action today.

And as TfL workers also walk out, London Underground subway entrances in the corner of the square are closed.

While Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered his Budget speech in the House of Commons this afternoon, hundreds of striking civil servants descended upon Downing Street chanting "what do we want?" - "10%", "when do we want it?" - "now".

Members from the PCS union even brought a marching drum band along with them, as four people were also spotted carrying giant yellow balloons with the union’s logo on them.

Image source, PA

Also in central London, thousands of teachers, civil servants and other workers gathered for a rally in Trafalgar Square.

Many were seen carrying banners calling on the government to "pay up", while other strikers brought their children with them or pushed babies in buggies.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, led the crowds by chanting: "No ifs, no buts, no education cuts".

Image source, PA Media

Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent

There has been a “breakthrough” in a dispute between university staff and employers over pay, working conditions and pensions, the University and College Union (UCU) says.

Strikes are on today and are still set to go ahead on Thursday and Friday – as well as Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

The UCU, which has been co-ordinating strike action, says next steps will be decided following a meeting on Friday.

It said strikes would continue whilst members were consulted.

Universities UK described talks as “collaborative and constructive”.

Image source, PA Wire

Civil servants in the Public and Commerical Services (PCS) union are among the hundreds of thousands of people on strike today.

General secretary Mark Serwotka told Radio 4's World at One programme that every announcement in Jeremy Hunt's Budget would need a civil servant to help implement it.

"[Civil servants] affect every person in Britain, from cradle to death," he says.

Serwotka says 47,000 civil servants across two government departments are on the minimum wage, despite making decisions about issues such as asylum claims, benefits, and collecting taxes.

The pay rise on offer is 2 to 3%, but Serwotka says that's not acceptable when inflation is so much higher.

"I'm hearing that the health talks may be progressing. I really would welcome that... but nobody can be left behind and in the civil service we're [only] having 'chats'.

"They haven't put a penny on the table."

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay has said that he hugely values the hard work of junior doctors and that he wants unions to "come to the negotiating table" to enter formal talks., external

He also says that he urges doctors to cancel strikes which risk patient safety and may impact the NHS backlog.

In a statement Barclay said: “It is incredibly disappointing the British Medical Association (BMA) has declined my offer to enter formal pay negotiations on the condition strikes are paused."

He also said that he wants to come to "a fair settlement" which recognises the crucial role of junior doctors and the wider economic pressures facing the UK.

He added that the government has been working with NHS England on contingency plans to "help protect patient safety during strikes".

Image source, PA Media

Gem O'Reilly
BBC News

Image source, Dr Kiara Vincent

I’ve been chatting to junior doctors over the last few days who work across the UK about what the strikes mean to them.

Dr Kiara Vincent works in the Midlands in emergency medicine as a registrar. She said: “We’re all in the same situation, we’re finding it difficult to carry on in the state that we’re in.”

I asked Kiara what it feels like at the moment in her role and about working conditions. She explained: “It’s really demoralising. We’re trained to a high level to provide a high standard of care and at the moment we go to work knowing, through things completely out of our control, we can’t give that level of care to patients.

"I come to work and can see that there’s a patient waiting eight hours to see a doctor. There are some days where I finish my shift, come back the next day and then I see the same patient still sat waiting in A&E the next day.

"That’s horrendous coming to work knowing that you can’t help the people that you care for.”

Kiara told me that she doesn’t want to go on strike and she’s sorry it’s come to this, but ultimately she just “wants the government to listen”.

Harry Low
BBC London News

About 20 teachers formed a noisy picket line outside Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney, east London, this morning.

To a backdrop of tambourines, whistles and maracas, history teacher Tom Cranston says it was a "really difficult decision" to take industrial action.

"I felt the right thing to do was to come out for every student in the country," he says.

"We need a fully-funded pay rise so that every school can have fantastic teachers.

"We're here to be a positive face of the fact we really care about education, children and schools.

"We're just trying to get the message out that something needs to change."

More about the teaching strikes here.