MPs fury as DWP offices in Oldham set to close

Jim McMahon MP

The Department of Work and Pensions has announced the closure of 42 UK offices, including Oldham.

The office at Phoenix House on Union Street is set to be closed by the summer with work expected to move to St Peter's Square in Manchester city centre.

Staff were called to a meeting this morning to be informed that there was to be a major re-organisation at the department.

In the Commons yesterday, DWP Minister David Rutley told MPs that the government would “see what opportunities there are within DWP” and other departments for affected staff, and said that the change “does not impact job centres and the customer-facing interactions”.

Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon said the government have "turned their back on Oldham" and that the reorganisation left it's levelling up agenda "in tatters".

"This marks a long and disgraceful programme of removing jobs from the town, at a time when we need support to recover from the pandemic.

"There has not been any consultation with local Members of Parliament and follows on from the closure of the HMRC tax office in the same building only a few years ago. According to the PCS union, 168 jobs will be lost as a result of the latest round of cuts.

"Taken together it shows a disregard for the town, and the importance of town centre workers supporting the local high street, spending money at lunch time and after work.

The move follows the closure of the Magistrates Court in 2016, the County Court in 2017 and the local tax office.

Mr McMahon added: "Just this week it was reported that there were 5,270 unemployed claimants in Oldham West and Royton constituency alone, which was 7.9% of the population aged 16-64. This was 1,665 higher than March 2020, before the first UK lockdown began.

"The Tories never put towns like Oldham first, they have an agenda to strip back public services to the bone and drive a race to the bottom on living standards and quality of life for working people."

The PCS union said the move puts over a thousand jobs at risk.  General secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Having helped keep the UK running during the pandemic, DWP has rewarded our members by announcing large-scale office closures, which will almost certainly mean job losses."

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."

Staff in the Oldham office will be transferred to locations in Salford and Stockport.

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