On 17th March, Minister for Welfare Delivery David Rutley confirmed that 13 Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) offices are scheduled for closure, placing thousands of jobs at risk of redundancy.
Of the 41 DWP offices currently operational, 13 are scheduled to close by June 2023, with the other 29 forecast to close or be relocated in the longer term. The move is hoping to create savings of £80m to £90m from 2028 onwards.
Staff at some of the offices will be offered an alternative site in “close proximity”, to work in and about 1,300 who are not able to move will be offered retraining for another DWP role, or a role in another government department. However, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) - which represents many DWP staff - estimates that over 1,100 jobs will be at risk in the initial closures and potentially thousands more later.
The relocations and closures are part of the government’s levelling up agenda, which plans to transform the UK by spreading opportunity and prosperity to all parts of it. This initiative includes moving public sector workers out of London and into new regional sites. Conversely though, according to the PCS, the majority of jobs at risk from the DWP office closures are in the north of England. Additionally, a report by think tank Onward in February found that overall civil service headcount had grown 50% in London, in comparison with 3% across the rest of the country.
Labour MP John McDonnell commented on Twitter:
“The government is taking a novel approach to rolling out its levelling up programme by sacking hundreds of DWP workers in the very towns and areas most in need of jobs and investment.”
On their website, the PCS says:
“First we were clapped, then we were scrapped”.
They go on to add:
“The announcement has been devastating for PCS members, as thousands now face possible redundancy. These are the same people who helped keep the country running during the pandemic by processing benefit payments, including unprecedented numbers of Universal Credit claims.”
According to MP David Rutley, parts of the DWP estate are unfit for purpose. He stated that the majority of staff “can be relocated very very close to their current facility”.
He added “We’re not reducing staff numbers – the focus is on retaining as many people as possible.”
A government spokesperson said:
"As part of plans to improve the services we deliver to claimants, help more people into employment and modernise public services, DWP is moving some back-office staff to better, greener offices, which will not affect any public-facing roles.”
They added:
“This is not a plan to reduce our headcount – where possible, our colleagues in offices due to close are being offered opportunities to be redeployed to a nearby site, or retrained into a new role in DWP or another government department.”
"We are making every effort to fully support our staff through this process.”
