JOBCENTRES in Shipley and Brighouse will close as part of Government plans.

Shipley's Jobcentre Plus office, in Wainman Street, will shut with claimants now having to travel to the Bradford Eastbrook Court site, 4.1 miles away.

The Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) says the move has been made in the interests of saving public money.

The announcement follows a six-month public consultation and discussions also took place with the Wainman Street site's staff on their re-deployment to the Bradford sites, but no redundancies are expected.

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The DWP report said: "After careful consideration of the responses, it is DWP's views that these do not provide a basis to amend or change the proposal to close Shipley Jobcentre and relocate services to Bradford Jobcentre.

"The merge of the two offices was explored but is not viable in reverse.

"Consequently, the recommendation of this report is to proceed with the proposal to close Shipley Jobcentre and transfer services to Bradford Jobcentre."

Concerns were raised in the public consultation about the increase in travel costs for claimants after the move.

But the DWP said it was able to reimburse travel costs for claimants and customers, taking into account their particular circumstances, who are asked to attend the jobcentre outside of their minimum requirement of attendance.

Meanwhile, there were seven responses to the proposal to close the Brighouse Jobcentre in Owler Ings Road, and transfer its services and staff to Halifax Crossfield House Jobcentre.

Concerns raised were around the extra travel time for claimants, as well as the extra travel costs, as the distance between the two is 4.8 miles, around 34 minutes on public transport.

Comments included: “For most of us Brighouse is the easiest job centre to get to, as it’s within walking distance.” And “Halifax would be just too far and too difficult to get to.”

Another said: “Closing this means I can’t get to a jobcentre without extra costs of travel which I can’t afford. I would be looking at an extra £4.£5 a day to get to the nearest jobcentre.”

But the DWP concluded that the points raised do not provided a basis to amend or change the original proposals.

The DWP confirmed that all 24 members of staff in Shipley and the 15 workers in Brighouse are being offered roles in Bradford and Halifax respectively as the services transfer over.

Both buildings are leased and no date has been set for their closure.

The move is part of a nationwide package of proposals to merge 68 smaller jobcentres with larger ones and move others into local government premises, saving more than £140 million a year for the next ten years.

Damian Hinds, Minster for Employment, said: "We will always make sure that people have the support they need to get into and progress within work. "These changes reflect the fact that more people access their benefits online resulting in many of our buildings being underused.

"We're merging some offices and locating other jobcentres with local authorities to make sure that the welfare state and our employment support works for those who need it and those who pay for it."

Shipley MP Philip  Davies was disappointed at the decision and called for some Jobcentre presence to remain in the town, such as outreach work. 

In the House of Commons today, Mr Davies asked David Gauke, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: “Will he confirm that some of that outreach work will continue to be delivered within the Shipley constituency, and will he also guarantee that the staff there can choose which other office to work at, which may be much closer to their home, so that they do not all have to move to Bradford?”
In reply, Mr Gauke said: “I can give my an assurance that outreach work will continue in Shipley."