Jobcentre plan does not add up
News of the proposed closure of Cambuslang Jobcentre came as a shock to many – myself included.
Eight of the 16 jobcentres across the Glasgow area are set to be shut down and the Department for Work and Pensions didn’t feel it necessary to inform any constituency MPs about the plans.
News broke on Wednesday, December 7, early in the morning in a piece by the Daily Record.
It took a full seven hours for a DWP minister to send letters by email to all of the MPs whose constituencies will be affected.
That, quite simply, isn’t good enough.
I take no personal slight from this but find it totally disrespectful to my constituents.
The jobcentre is an important resource in Cambuslang and, although the centre in Rutherglen is set to remain open, plans to have people travel further to access DWP services and search for work will no doubt be beset with problems.
Jobcentre users from Cambuslang will now face increased travel costs for starters, a factor likely to affect disabled people more acutely.
Then there’s the sanctions regime. Service users who perhaps miss an appointment due to traffic or a late bus could face being sanctioned and having their benefits cut off.
Although the plans are to transfer staff across, the DWP have been unable to guarantee that no jobs will go as a result of the move.
And, even if all the jobs remain, the doubling of footfall in Rutherglen is bound to cause a strain.
The Glasgow area is facing completely disproportionate cuts. Last year Chancellor George Osborne announced a 20 per cent reduction in the DWP estate. This massive cut equates to 50 per cent of jobcentres in Glasgow.
If the Tories are serious about promoting employment and getting people into work – a refrain we hear all too often from them – then these cuts make absolutely no sense.
These proposals look set to impact on some 68,000 people in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance, employment support allowance and universal credit.
While I’m struggling to find the logic in all of this, I feel that DWP ministers are too.
As they scramble about to put a spin on the situation it is evident that this is little more than a brutal cost-cutting exercise.
Some of the areas with jobcentres set for the chop are those which simply cannot afford to lose such a resource: Easterhouse, Castlemilk and Maryhill to name just three.
I and my colleagues met with the district jobcentre manager last week, a meeting which sadly delivered no clear sign of understanding from the DWP of the legitimate concerns people have.
We also met up with trade union PCS earlier this week and will be working closely with them to fight these abhorrent cuts.
Later this week we are due to hold a joint meeting with the secretary of state for works and pensions.
The jobcentre is an important resource in Cambuslang