Hundreds of schools are closed as caretakers and catering staff join the protest - just days before pupils break for the summer holidays.

All normal council operations are likely to be affected, including rubbish collections, leisure centres, libraries, cemeteries, and day centres for the elderly.

Staff are demanding a 6% pay rise - which their employers say they cannot afford.

The 1.2m workers across Britain are staging the first national strike in 23 years, arguing that they deserve more.

Two-thirds of the staff earn less per year than the average £12,000 allowance paid to council leaders.

Wide-ranging impact

Local authorities say the rise demanded is equivalent to £80 a year on council tax bills or 85,000 jobs.

Downing Street refused to be drawn on the strike, and said the issue was "entirely a matter for the local government authorities and the unions".

Schools are closed as a result of the strike

All council services are expected to feel the impact of the strike.

The centre of Pontypridd in south Wales was brought to a standstill as several hundred council workers and their supporters marched through the town in the morning.

Council leaders joined the workers in their action for more pay.

Some councils, like Caerphilly and Wrexham, are closing all their offices and buildings, others like Merthyr are shutting their leisure facilities, parks and cemetries.

But emergency services are being maintained and union members have been given special permission to cross picket lines.

This is to ensure that the sick, vunerable, and those in need of urgent help will not be put at risk.

The teachers' union, NUT Cymru, has been advising its members to report for work as usual despite the strike action.

Secretary Gethin Lewis said the union has sympathy for the striking workers, but it is not part of the dispute.

He said members had not been balloted for strike action, so any participation would be illegal.

It could mean, however, that teachers would have to cross picket lines.