HOME OFFICE STAFF MOVE INTO CITY CENTRE BASE SET TO SHUT
200 DWP jobs at risk from closure plans
HOME Office workers have moved into the DWP’S Hanley Service Centre – nine months before it is due to close.
The Stafford Street office is one of 42 DWP sites across the country which are being shut as part of the department’s estates review.
The service centre is due to close on February 3 next year, putting more than 200 back office jobs at risk.
But about 20 employees from the Home Office have now been moved into the building on a temporary basis, ahead of a new permanent base being established in Stoke-on-trent.
DWP staff were told about the move yesterday morning. The Home Office has previously announced it will create more than 500 jobs in Stokeon-trent by 2025.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which has been fighting to save the Hanley office, has criticised the move, describing it as ‘insensitive at best’ given the uncertainty faced by the DWP staff.
PCS officials also referred to previous statements by Government ministers, who said parts of the DWP estate were ‘no longer fit for purpose’ and the closures would result in a ‘smaller, greener and better’ estate.
A PCS spokesman said: “Treatment of DWP staff at the Hanley Service Centre has been shameful. This is a bitter blow and comes at a time when staff are feeling vulnerable about their futures. No thought has been given to how they feel. Staff are furious that Home Office staff now sit in vacant space that used to house DWP colleagues.
“To tell us a building is unfit and then deploy another department in it is an insult to the staff about to lose their jobs. Hopefully the public will see through this.
“DWP staff at risk have been shown the door, they have been callously cast aside even though recruitment to replace them will take place in the future, there is little realistic opportunity for redeployment for the majority.
“MPS have been keen to get Home Office jobs into Stoke-on-trent as part of their flagship levelling up agenda. We call on them to condemn this insensitive deployment coming at a time when morale of the DWP staff has been knocked by recent decisions about their future.”
The Hanley service centre is among the DWP offices listed for closure where there is no other ‘strategic site’ nearby. Employment minister Mims Davies has said the DWP is ‘committed to supporting the redeployment of staff’ and the department is working closely with the Home Office on this issue.
But the PCS says staff have now undergone redundancy scoring and ‘few, if any’ redeployment opportunities have emerged.
The Home Office is creating jobs to Stoke-on-trent as part of a Government drive to move civil servants out of London. Most of the jobs will be within the asylum operations directorate, or a new caseworking ‘innovation centre’.
Officials are working with Stoke-ontrent City Council to find a property for the new office. The initial cohort of Home Office workers is due to be in place in Stoke-on-trent by late summer.