Services including street cleansing, burials and grounds maintenance, will also come to a standstill when about 70% of council workers take to picket lines on Wednesday and Thursday.

The strikes, part of national industrial action, will affect all Ribble Valley Borough Council services.

Miss Linda Jones, branch secretary of Unison, said: "We are taking strike action not because we want to. Many Unison members are low paid, part-time women workers struggling to pay the bills so losing two days' pay is not something we are doing lightly.

"We know the services we provide are essential to the Ribble Valley community and shutting these services down will cause disruption and for that we are genuinely sorry if you are inconvenienced, but we cannot afford another pay cut."

She added: "Local government employees have the worst pay, holidays, parental rights and sick pay in the public sector."

County council officials are working to help keep essential services running during the strike. While many online services will be unaffected, the authority is asking people not to get in touch unless they have to.

A spokesman said: "We are asking people to avoid contacting us in the way they normally would on the dates of the strike if at all possible, which will allow us to concentrate on keeping our really key services up and running."

Updates on services affected will appear on the county council's website www.lancashire.gov.uk before and during the strike. Lancashire County Council's contact centre is available on 0845 0530000.