125 jobs secured for the North West
A further major contract has been secured by the Department for Communities with Westminster's Department for Work and Pensions.
The £7 million contract will deliver Universal Credit services to claimants in Great Britain and will secure an additional 125 jobs in Northern Ireland.
The posts will be based at the Lisahally Service Centre near Derry/Londonderry.
A spokesperson for the Department for Communities said: “This is good news for DfC and for Northern Ireland, bringing to 594 the number of new jobs secured by the Department over the past year to deliver DWP services.
"This third major contract for DfC is testament to the continued confidence DWP has in our capacity to provide high quality services for customers in Great Britain."
While some of the posts will be filled through internal redeployment, it's expected a large proportion of the posts will be filled through external recruitment.
The contract is for an initial two year period worth just over £3.5 million per year and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2017.
It follows previous DWP contracts announced in September and December 2016, worth a combined £20 million