Aberdeen’s main Department for Work and Pensions office has been “earmarked for closure”, as fears grow for around 3,000 jobs across the UK.
The fate of Ebury House, on the city’s Dee Street, was revealed by Aberdeen South MP Stephen Flynn at the House of Commons on Thursday.
It comes as part of reported plans to close 42 offices across the UK.
PCS warns more than 1,000 workers face a “very serious prospect of redundancy” at 13 of the department’s sites where no option of relocation has been made available.
It believes up to 3,000 jobs could be at risk across the country overall.
Some 64 members of staff are currently employed at Ebury House.
Closures are scheduled to happen by June 2023, the union said.
Offices affected across Scotland
According to the PCS union, the Aberdeen office is one of only two in Scotland to close with no merger offered, with workers at Victoria Road in Kirkcaldy facing the same prospect.
The other affected offices in Scotland are Lindsay House in Dundee, Whitburn Road in Bathgate, Callendar Gate in Falkirk, Clydebank, Springburn, and Gregson House in Stirling.
Mr Flynn challenged work and pensions minister David Rutley about the closure during an urgent question on Thursday.
The SNP MP said: “Ebury House in my Aberdeen South constituency has been earmarked for closure.
“Would the minister agree to meet with me urgently to discuss what impact this will have on staff, and can he provide a cast iron guarantee to this chamber and my constituents that the services they receive will not be impacted.”
‘Very disappointing’
Mr Rutley insisted the closure will not impact on services because it will primarily affect telephony and digital teams.
The minister said it will not affect Jobcentre Plus or customer-facing roles.
“Our primary concern now is to see what we can do to support people who might be impacted by the change in terms of staff but of course I’ll meet with him after this or during the course of today to discuss his concerns more fully,” he said.
Mr Rutley said it is “very disappointing” that an embargo agreed with the PCS union on revealing the closures publicly “does not seem to have been respected”.
“Clearly our staff should be the top priority at this time,” he added.
“I hope that colleagues will understand that I’m not able to go into all the details this morning as we’re currently briefing affected colleagues as we speak.”
Mr Rutley said the minister for employment will write to MPs in affected areas later on Thursday and that there will be a statement to Parliament on Friday.
‘Miracle workers’
In an online statement, the PCS union accused the UK Government of turning its back on staff hailed as “miracle workers” during the Covid pandemic.
“The government was quick to praise civil servants at the start of the pandemic but ministers are even quicker to fire them now they have declared the pandemic over,” the union said.
“Our members have worked tirelessly behind the scenes, keeping the country running, paying out benefits to almost two-and-a-half million families, helping them to put food on their table and keep a roof over their head.”
Speaking later, Stephen Flynn said: “This is very worrying news for the many thousands of people in Aberdeen who rely on the services provided by Ebury House.
“We need urgent clarity from the UK Government as to what this means for both the staff involved and the public who rely on the vital services that they provide.
“The minister agreed to meet with me and I will be taking this forward alongside my colleagues Kirsty Blackman and Richard Thomson.”
A UK Government spokeswoman said: “As part of plans to improve the services we deliver to claimants, help more people into employment and modernise public services, DWP is moving some back office staff to better, greener offices, which will not affect any public-facing roles.
“This is not a plan to reduce our headcount – where possible, our colleagues in offices due to close are being offered opportunities to be redeployed to a nearby site, or retrained into a new role in DWP or another government department.
“We are making every effort to fully support our staff through this process.”