Jobs to go in Wick over HMRC centralisation plans
HMRC employees in Wick have suffered a "devastating blow" after being offered voluntary redundancy.
HMRC employees in Wick have suffered a "devastating blow" after being offered voluntary redundancy.
The office was shut down in 2014, but 13-workers continued to work from home.
Labour MSP David Stewart is concerned by the move to centralise operations from Glasgow and Edinburgh.
He told MFR: “The whole programme of centralisation is just devastating for areas like Wick which has fought over previous years to keep the local office open.
“When the office was vacated in 2014, at least 13 people remained home working – even HMRC admits there were ‘clear benefits’ for colleagues in and around Wick. It now says that home-working does not fit in with its new location strategy and there is little prospect of the staff being able to travel to one of the new regional centres proposed in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
“It’s such a pity that Government departments can’t see that even saving a small number of jobs helps rural economies in areas such as Caithness. It also helps local businesses which need a face to face contact”
A spokesperson for HMRC added: “We have spoken to a small number colleagues who took part in a home-working trial in the Wick area, to give them the option of applying to join a voluntary exit scheme. This is an entirely voluntary scheme and nobody is under any obligation to apply.”
In November it was also announced that Inverness and Aberdeen offices of HMRC would close by 2018 and 2021 respectively.