Still no permanent site in city for government’s new benefits agency

THE agency responsible for the roll-out of Scotland’s new benefits s y st e m h a s a d m i t t e d it still does not know where in Dundee it will be permanently situated.

Chief executive of Social Security Scotland (SSS) David Wallace said there was a “restrictive” commercial property market in Dundee, where the majority of the agency’s staff will be based.

As many as 250 people are currently employed by the agency in the city, with plans for 750 in total to work for the government by the time the benefits system has completely rolled out.

The SSS currently rents space in Dundee House – home also to Dundee City Council, which recently sold the building to insurance giant Canada Life in a £23.8 million deal that will see it lease back the offices for 40 years.

Despite already handing out some benefits to Scottish recipients, Mr Wallace told the public audit and post-legislative scrutiny committee they were still to secure final office space.

As part of the cultural shift to Scotland’s benefit system, Mr Wallace said, the agency wants an accessible property able to house 750 employees in the city centre.

“In terms of staffing, Dundee is now our most significant centre of operations, with more people based there than in G l a s g o w, w h i c h h a s essentially been built up from a zero base for the Scottish Government i n terms of Dundee,” he said.

“We are working on a more permanent solution in Dundee and t hose discussions are at a fairly advanced stage and are commercially restrictive, so I would not like to put any more than that out in the public domain at the moment.”