One of the biggest strike days in the nation's history is set to take place next month when an estimated half a million workers could down tools in a protest over pay.

Teachers, university lecturers, railway workers, train drivers, border force and job centre staff alongside civil servants in more than 100 government departments are expected to join what is rapidly gathering pace as a national strike on February 1.

While hundreds of thousands of workers from postal staff to paramedics are currently embroiled in disputes over money and working conditions, the mass walkout at the start of next month is also taking aim at the government's attempts to quash protesting workers with new anti-strike laws. Scroll down for the full list of workers set to strike.

The draft Strikes Minimum Service Levels Bill would restrict people's right to strike by imposing minimum service levels from workers such as firefighters and nurses - with bosses legally able to fire employees who ignore an instruction telling them to come to work during industrial action.

The new law if passed would apply across England, Scotland and Wales with those against it suggesting that it could completely end the ability for some job roles to ever strike - such as railway signal staff.

The Trade Union Congress which brings together more than 5.5 million working people who make up its 48 member unions is leading the charge - urging people to get behind a national day of action now being dubbed 'protect the right to strike' day.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: "Unions will fights these plans every step of the way – including through parliament and through the courts.

"On February the 1st will we hold events across the country against this spiteful new bill which is unworkable and almost certainly illegal.

"We will call on the general public to show support for workers taking action to defend their pay and conditions, to defend our public services and to protect the fundamental right to strike."

While train drivers and railway workers are continuing a hard-fought campaign for better wages, which they say are needed to keep up with the cost of living, February 1 will also see teachers in England and Wales stage their first national walkout.

Close to 24,000 schools are expected to be affected by the industrial action by the NEU - Britain's largest education union - which has chosen February 1 as the first date of seven national and regional strikes between then and March.

Teachers in England last held a strike in 2016 when the majority of schools were able to remain open to pupils - a larger scale walkout last took place in 2008.

The NEU says 'anyone who values education' should support striking teachers who are standing up for schools where teachers are leaving in droves - a third within five years of qualifying.

Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretaries of the National Education Union, explained: "This is not about a pay rise but correcting historic real-terms pay cuts. Teachers have lost 23% in real-terms since 2010, and support staff 27% over the same period. The average 5% pay rise for teachers this year is some 7% behind inflation. In the midst of a cost of living crisis, that is an unsustainable situation.

"The Government must know there is going to have to be a correction on teacher pay. They must realise that school support staff need a pay rise.

"If they do not, then the consequences are clear for parents and children. The lack of dedicated maths teachers, for example, means that 1 in 8 pupils are having work set and assessed by people who are not qualified in the teaching of maths. Anyone who values education should support us in this dispute because that is what we are standing up for. It is not us who should turn a blind eye to the consequences of government policy on schools and colleges."