HMRC JOB FEARS
The discussions with workers at the HM Revenue and Customs in Peterlee come as plans press on following the announcement its office would close in years to come back in 2015.
Benton Park View, in Newcastle, will become a regional centre for the service in the same period of the East Durham base’s closure, while its transitional site at Waterview Park, in Washington, is scheduled to close between 2024 and 2025.
Those from Waterside House, in Sunderland, will face moving to Washington or Newcastle ahead of its closure between 2019 and 2020.
The service says this will give people who are unable to travel to Newcastle an alternative in Washington, closer to where they live for a number of years.
About a year before the move, HMRC says staff will have a one-to-one to establish whether they would like to move and what support they need.
For those who can move there will be support for additional travelling costs for up to five years.
HMRC says it will help those who cannot move through options including jobs in other sections, such as the Department for Work and Pensions, which has a “significant presence” in Washington and the wider region, as well as workshops to support them through a move of career or redundancy scheme.
It has said Newcastle was chosen as the regional base as an established and growing site with good rail, road and air links and universities nearby, with 6,300 full-time workers there, meaning it can retain more people and skills.