About 6,000 county council employees are to be balloted on taking industrial action in protest over a one per cent pay award.

Teaching assistants, clerical staff, cleaners, caretakers and social workers will be among those asked to support formal action after Unison and the GMB union were given the go-ahead to start a ballot.

The move comes after Kent County Council refused to improve its pay award of one per cent.

Unison, which has about 5,000 members in Kent, says staff will initially be asked to support limited action and no strike action is being proposed, a move that could have led to disruption to services.

If there is backing for industrial action, employees are likely to be asked to work to rule and withdraw goodwill.

Unison branch secretary David Lloyd said efforts to persuade KCC to review its decision to offer a one per cent pay rise had not succeeded and pointed out that many members were those on the lowest salaries.

The pay award offered by KCC meant hundreds of school teaching assistants were being offered less than half what teachers would be getting.

County council staff are expected to stage a protest outside County Hall next Thursday when KCC meets to agree its budget plans, including the pay award, for the year.