DWP Office Closures

That the Parliament notes with concern the UK Government’s reported announcement that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) plans to close 41 offices across the UK by June 2023; understands that 13 of these closures, which would affect 64 workers at Aberdeen and over 100 at Kirkcaldy, are processing sites where no alternative nearby premises have been identified for relocation of staff; further understands that a further six sites in Scotland will close with an alternative site for relocation offered, including in the West Scotland region; notes with concern the estimates reported by the PCS trade union that the closure and relocation of these offices will put up to 3,000 workers at risk of redundancy in total; further notes the publication of figures by the DWP, which it understands indicate that jobs in Scotland have already been cut by a third since 2011, meaning that Scotland has experienced the fastest rate of DWP job cuts in the country; acknowledges what it sees as the tireless work of civil servants at the DWP, who it understands have paid out benefits to almost 2.5 million families during the COVID-19 pandemic and been described as “miracle workers” by the Prime Minister; notes the view that these latest cuts are part of a wider agenda to unjustly place more responsibility on individual claimants, who it understands already face sanctions if they refuse to take up a job offer if it involves less than a 90-minute commute; further notes the view that the UK Government should reverse these cuts, which it considers undermine the UK Government’s levelling up agenda and will have a negative impact on workers, claimants and wider communities, and notes the calls for UK and Scottish government ministers to work with Social Security Scotland and the DWP to save jobs and develop contingency measures for redeployment of staff who face redundancy if these cuts are pursued.