Hundreds of jobs could be at risk in Scotland after plans to close offices within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) emerged.
It has been reported that eight offices in Scotland will be affected as part of a move to trim the workforce and cut the depertment's number of buildings.
The decision to close the offices came to light following a question at Westminster by SNP work and employment spokesman Chris Stephens, who aseked: “Can the minister confirm that the announcement could mean 3,000 jobs at risk of redundancy in the Department of Work and Pensions? And what measures is he going to ensure that this does not happen?”
He also claimed the DWP was “looking to close offices in high economic deprivation areas” which was “counter-intuitive to the so-called levelling-up agenda”.
Today my urgent question revealed that the DWP plan to close 42 office sites, with 000s of job losses expected. Families & communities across the UK will be devasted by the losses - including 7 site closures in Scotland. It is clear “levelling-up” is another UKGov empty slogan. pic.twitter.com/8r86q6n6ig
— Chris Stephens MP (@ChrisStephens) March 17, 2022
Work and Pensions minister David Rutley replied: “In terms of our plans, we, as I said, have been working very closely with colleagues and with PCS over recent months.
“There are going to be around 12,000 colleagues who will be moving from one site to another in close proximity, around 28 sites involved there.
“In terms of colleagues that will be affected where there is no other strategic site nearby, there are around 1,300 colleagues that could be involved.”
It is understood that offices in Aberdeen at Ebury House and in Kirkcaldy on Victoria Road will close.
Six other sites in Bathgate, Dundee, Falkirk, Clydebank, Glasgow and Stirling will shut with staff moved to another location.
Mr Rutley added that the Government would “see what opportunities there are within DWP” and other departments for affected staff, and added that the change “does not impact job centres and the customer-facing interactions”.
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