Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers started a 24-hour walkout in protest at controversial plans to change their pensions, cut jobs and freeze pay.
Picket lines were being mounted outside school gates, courts, jobcentres, Parliament, driving test centres and Government buildings by members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), University and College Union and the Public and Commercial Services union.
In some Government offices, civil servants affected by the teachers' strike were being allowed to bring their children to work to minimise disruption to services. And police leave has been cancelled in London, where union leaders and thousands of activists will take part in a march, followed by a rally in Westminster.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said he believed the public would find it difficult to understand why the strike was going ahead when negotiations over pensions were continuing. It was "imperative" that public sector pensions were reformed, said Dr Cable, adding that he intended to be in his office and hoped that if any Business Department staff went on strike it would not "spoil" the working relationship.
Airports warned travellers to expect disruption on arrival into the UK as immigration and customs officers join the strike. A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said: "Virgin Atlantic is working closely with the UK Border Agency to support their contingency planning and minimise disruption to our customers."
High-speed Channel Tunnel train company Eurostar said it would not be affected by industrial action and will be running two extra trains - one from London to Paris, the other from Paris to London, to cope with expected extra demand.
Downing Street said the Government was doing everything possible to ensure it was "business as usual", with the Prime Minister's official spokesman saying: "We have been for some time putting contingency plans in place to ensure essential services are maintained."
Based on returns from around three-quarters of the schools in England, the Government said it expected around a third will be shut completely, a third will be partially affected, and a third will remain open.
Officials said they expected around one-in-five of the UK's 500,000 civil servants will take part in the strike, adding that the "vast majority" of courts, job centres, and HM Revenue and Customs call centres would remain open as usual.
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