OVER 170 jobs in Bradford will be affected by Government plans to sell off dozens of DWP offices.

Today it was announced that offices across the country would be sold off by the Department for Works and Pensions, and this will include the DWP's office on Leeds Road.

173 back office staff will be moved to office space in Ambler Mill, on Valley Road, that is also owned by the DWP.

The Government has said no Job Centres facilities would be lost. 

The shake up was revealed by the Public and Commercial Services Union this morning, with the Union saying the plan is for the Leeds Road office building, next to the Salvation Army building, to be sold off by June 2023.

According to the PCS, 13 DWP offices across the country will be closed with staff offered "no alternative" to transfer to a nearby office.

Another 29 offices, including offices in Bradford, Doncaster and Rotherham, will be closed with employees offered transfers to alternative sites.

Bradford West MP Naz Shah warned against the Government "risking jobs, whilst it plays the property ladder.”

The PCS union has been highly critical of the national shake up of the DWP estate, suggesting that it could lead to thousands of job losses.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “The government was quick to clap civil servants at the start of the pandemic; they’re even quicker to scrap them now they’ve declared the pandemic over.

“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.

“These are the workers rightly praised in 2020 by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Theresa Coffey as ‘exceptional’ and in November last year by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as ‘miracle workers’.

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“But now, as food and fuel prices rise faster than ever, they’re being abandoned by the government and left to fend for themselves."

Responding to an urgent question about the plans in the House of Commons this morning, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions David Rutley claimed the jobs that would be affected would be "back of house" roles, and not involved front facing Jobcentre Plus jobs.

Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West, SNP) asked Government to make a statement on the plans.

Mr Rutley initially criticised the PCS for breaking an embargo on the announced closures. He added: "Clearly, our staff should be the top priority at this time. I hope colleagues will understand that I am not able to go into all the detail this morning as we are briefing affected colleagues as we speak.

"The Minister for Employment will write to MPs with an affected site in their constituency after 1 pm today, and there will be a written statement to Parliament tomorrow morning.

"The change is to back-of-house offices and will support the delivery of the Government priorities to get more people back into employment, to deliver long-term savings for the taxpayer and to meet Government commitments to modernise public services.

"The Department has developed a strategy that will, over the next 10 years, reshape and improve how, where and when it delivers services to claimants.

"The Department is transitioning to an estate that is smaller, greener and better. This will deliver substantial benefits by increasingly developing modern, secure, resilient, sustainable and automated systems to drive better experiences for our customers, colleagues and taxpayers.

"The plans for the next three-year period affect the future delivery of back-of-house services—that is, services that are delivered remotely via telephone and online, without the need to see customers face to face. I assure the House that the plans do not affect Jobcentre Plus and customer-facing roles."

Mr Stephens replied: "The Department is looking to close offices in areas of high economic deprivation. That seems rather counterintuitive in the context of the so-called levelling-up agenda."

Mr Rutley said: "Around 12,000 colleagues will be moving from one site to another that is in close proximity—that will involve around 28 sites.

"Let me turn to the impact on the local economies. There are not normally too many people involved on each individual site, but, clearly, we have been working very hard to strengthen local economies, with the opening of a large number of new jobcentres. Again, I stress that this is about back-of house roles. This will not impact on jobcentres and the customer-facing interactions within the constituencies."

Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston, Lab) said: "It looks as though the Department for Work and Pensions does not believe in levelling up, does not believe in its own rhetoric on jobs, and does not believe in keeping people in work.

"If these closures go ahead, local communities will be faced with the loss of hundreds of good jobs potentially. Many of the closures are in areas of economic deprivation that can hardly afford to lose good-quality public sector jobs. Will there be a plan to help those communities attract well-paid jobs back to their local areas?

"Has any consideration been given to the effect that this will have on the high streets of the affected towns? Will we see yet more boarded-up buildings? This is the opposite of levelling up; this is levelling down and it is closing down."

After being briefed on the announcement Naz Shah said: "The government’s decision to close the DWP office in Bradford and across the country is a threat to job security.

“The government has suggested that 173 back-office staff from Bradford will be relocated to an alternative site. It is imperative that these closures do not lead to job losses in Bradford.

“At a time when inflation is on the rise, the cost-of-living crisis is at a historic high, the price of fuel and energy is rocketing, the government cannot risk jobs, whilst it plays the property ladder.”

A government spokesperson 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.”