Social security bosses may expand ‘footprint’

Agency team considering expansion of up to 50% to new Site 6 headquarters which could create 900 posts in Dundee region

The team which has based Scotland’s social security agency at Dundee’s waterfront is already considering an expansion of up to 50% to its new Site 6 headquarters.

Social Security Secretary ShirleyAnne Somerville visited the city to announce the Scottish Government agency will base itself in the Earl Grey building on the waterfront, opposite the V&A museum.

Ms Somerville announced a 20-year lease on the property, creating the capacity to base up to 900 jobs in the city.

It joins Dundee and Caledonian House as Dundee-based office space for Scottish Government workers.

Social Security Scotland will eventually deliver at least 11 benefits, including the delayed Scottish Child Payment, Child Disability Payments and the much-heralded Personal Independence Payment replacement.

Ms Somerville said the Scottish Government is “keen” to look at an even larger footprint in Dundee.

“We are grateful for the council to be flexible with us to ensure that option is there. Obviously we will need to look at what work space is required for the agency and the footprint within the city.

“We don’t just have this building. We’re still keen to have a presence in Dundee House as well, so we will look at that as we consider the work programmes going forward.

“We’re determined, for example, that jobs that will deliver the Scottish Child Payment will be based in Dundee, and that was not a benefit that we were originally talking about when we announced we would move to Dundee.

“We will look at the numbers overall, but we are absolutely determined to make this building work and to be flexible about what is required in the future.”

She said the Scottish Government was not deterred by the backlash against the office block, which reached a peak in the summer of 2018 when Pretenders star Chrissie Hynde labelled the then-incomplete building a “horrible carcase”.

“My in-laws are in this area so I am well aware of the controversy at the time,” said Ms Somerville.

“The important thing is the building is here now – so what do we do with it? What we’ve got now is a public service that is new, is growing, is bringing jobs to the city.

“This is something which Dundee can be really proud of. They are going to have a public service that will really, really deliver for people, including those in the city, both in terms of jobs and people that are using the service.”

It is estimated the public body’s presence in Dundee alone has the potential to contribute up to £100 million to the wider Scottish economy, when supply chain and wage spend wages effects are taken into account, a spokesperson for the agency said.

Fit out of the building is expected to begin next month and will take approximately seven months.

Social Security Scotland, operating in the city since summer 2018, has supported a number of Dundee contractors in the fit out of its existing spaces.

This approach will continue and local suppliers will be invited to bid for contracts associated to the building fit out, the spokeswoman added.

This is something which Dundee can be really proud of. They are going to have a public service that will really, really deliver for people. SHIRLEY-ANNE SOMERVILLE

On a day when it was confirmed Scottish GDP had contracted by a fifth during lockdown it was heartening to report a significant tranche of new jobs coming to Dundee.

The controversial office block occupying part of the V&Aneighbouring Site Six at the waterfront finally has a tenant.

In the coming months it will be fitted out to accommodate the needs of hundreds of Social Security Scotland staff who will administer an array of welfare benefits from one of Scotland’s finest office spaces.

But it has not been an easy journey.

Site Six was developed as part of a wider transformation project aimed at encouraging new businesses into the city.

It lay finished but empty for a considerable period of time and the fact the new tenant is an arm’s-length branch of government rather than an operator from the private sector is a concern, especially given the ambitions to build out yet more space in the waterfront for business use.

But Rome was not built in a day and the first tentative steps to tenant the waterfront will hopefully prove to be the most difficult, with others flowing in time.

The current Covid-19-impacted climate is not helpful in that regard.

But the waterfront is already providing tangible benefits to the city and wider region. And if Dundee has to play the long game in order to reap the full benefits of the waterfront investment programme, then so be it.