A new temporary job centre is being opened up in Aberdeen’s city centre.
The UK Government have secured office space on Shiprow and signed a lease on March 24.
Two vacant shop units on City Wharf will be fitted out into a facility to support Aberdeen residents who need to find work or looking for support in changing careers.
Documents previously submitted to Aberdeen City Council revealed that there would be 40 full-time and part-time jobs at the new site
A letter from Employment Minister Mims Davies confirmed this move, with work now underway to get the site sorted.
It will accommodate Work Coaches, as well as ensuring safety is maintained for new and existing staff.
Recruitment for new starts is also ongoing at the moment, with no opening date confirmed.
DWP expansion
The Department of Work and Pensions is investing in temporary job centres across the UK to deal with the increase in job losses due to the Covid pandemic.
They are recruiting 13,500 Work Coaches to help with this.
The current premises in Aberdeen is not big enough for them to make these changes to help more people, hence the new temporary centre opening.
In the letter from Mims Davies, it was revealed the move into the office space was still in the planning stages.
It read: “Naturally, there is still detailed planning work to do and there is a schedule of building works required to convert the space to suit the needs of our customers.
“Other work, for example Work Coach recruitment and training is taking place in parallel to make the site operationally viable as soon as possible.”
Aberdeen City Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden welcomed this news.
He said: “This announcement once again highlights the work the UK Government is doing to help the north-east as we recover from the pandemic.
“We must support those who have been affected by the economic impact of Covid-19 to get back into work or even change careers.
“This facility will help enhance these efforts and ensure those businesses looking to recruit can be quickly put in touch with those needing to find work.”