8/4/2019 Job Centre Plus

1/4

Jobcentre Plus

Jim McGonigle, District Manager

East & South East Scotland

Lyndean House, 199 Commercial Street, Edinburgh, EH6 60P

Telephone 0131 5558004 Fax 0131 5558005

Textphone 0845 601 6045

www.direct.gov.uk

Kezia Dugdale MSP

The Scottish Parliament

Edinburgh

EH991SP

Dear Ms Dugdale

Department for

W o r k a n d P e n s io n s

17 August 2011

Thank you for your letter of 3 August 2011, in response to m~ letter of 20 July

regarding the proposal to close 22 offices nationally and in particular theEdinburgh City office, South St Andrews Street.

I note that you consider the argument for closure to be unconvincing. As

District Manager for Jobcentre Plus in East and South East Scotland I can

only respond with regard to the Edinburgh City office and I hope that thefollowing may help to explain matters.

Firstly, Jobcentre Plus has been reviewing its estates for a number of years

with a view to reducing costs to the tax payer and the Government's welfare

reform and transformation programme has enabled us to consider

rationalising our estate further in areas where we operate multiple sites.

In Edinburgh we currently have 4 offices but Edinburgh City does not provide

the full range of services available in the other locations. Due to the layout of

the building (e.g. it covers 5 floors), Edinburgh City has never had its own

permanent customer caseload and instead operated as a base for employer

events and as a National Insurance Number (NINO) interviewing andadministration site.

Historically, the majority of the public who visited the site did so to make

general enquiries and/or to use the job points. Latterly we have utilised the

site for pre-arranged adviser appointments and fortnightly job search reviewinterviews for specific customer groups but in looking forward I feel that these

services can be carried out more efficiently elsewhere within Edinburgh.

For Leith and High Riggs Jobcentres, outline plans have been drawn up to

revise our operational areas and in High Riggs these include converting back

of office space to front-end use. These plans have been prepared to help us

in the final decision making process and will be used to test our assumption

that Leith and High Riggs can accommodate the transfer of work and stafffrom Edinburgh City.

Part of the Department tor Work and Pensions

, o F '" - ~

l !~~~

INVESTOR II': PEOPLE

http://www.direct.gov.uk/http://www.direct.gov.uk/

8/4/2019 Job Centre Plus

2/4

8/4/2019 Job Centre Plus

3/4

The staff and the TU side are well aware of the proposals and if a decision is

made to go ahead with the closure then they will be consulted about theplans.

Jobcentre Plus places great importance on' the health and safety of both its

staff and customers therefore if a decision is made to close Edinburgh City

existing risk assessments at Leith and High Riggs will be fully reviewed to

take account of any reconfiguration of premises as well as revised staff and

customer numbers. Equality impact assessments will also be completed once

decisions on the work and staff to be transferred is finalised. The local TUside will be involved in the process.

Please be assured that no staff will be made redundant as a result of any

closure and existing staff at Edinburgh City will be transferred to otherJobcentres under our normal transfer rules.

, hope that this is helpful but if you require any further information please

contact my Communication Manager, Anne McCool on 0131 555 8070 who

will be happy to assist. I would be happy to meet with you to discuss the

matter in more detail and if you wish to attend a meeting please let

Ms McCool know so that suitable arrangements can be made.

Yours sincerely

#;fflJ McGonigleDistrict Manager

8/4/2019 Job Centre Plus

4/4