Cut in government offices to cost 400 Mersey jobs

Mar 1 2008 by Matt Hurst, Liverpool Daily Post

A REVENUE and Customs office reshuffle will see nearly 400 jobs lost across Merseyside over the next three years.

The government department, created in 2005 following the merger of Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise, yesterday announced it will be halving its number of offices from 11 to six, with Graeme House, Derby Square; Norwich House, Water Street; Regian House, James Street, Liverpool; Kingsway House in Widnes, and Birchen House in Birkenhead ceasing operations from spring, 2009.

It is feared the Birkenhead office will be hit hardest, with 132 jobs lost at the centre.

A spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) yesterday sought to reassure staff that, despite the job losses, no compulsory redundancies would take place and the cutback would be “easily managed” within day-to-day business.

Three buildings in Bootle will be retained, at Litherland House, St John’s House and The Triad, while offices at Queens Dock and Imperial Court in Liverpool, along with those at College Street, St Helens, will also remain unaffected. Birkenhead’s Labour MP, Frank Field, says he had not been forewarned of the job losses in his constituency and greeted the decision “with dismay”.

He has written to Jane Kennedy MP requesting she speed up the government’s proposed movement of civil service jobs out of the South East, and direct them to replace these jobs in Birkenhead.

“The loss of these jobs will come as an additional blow to these workers but is also bad news for the wider Wirral economy,” he said.

The HMRC spokesman added that all Birkenhead workers would be offered other jobs within the department.

Although it is expected HMRC will vacate premises from spring, 2009, some staff may move ahead of this time.

HMRC director Mary Hay said: “These decisions are the latest to emerge from a nationwide series of reviews.

“We’ve engaged widely with trade unions, MPs, local authorities and a range of customer groups as well as with our own employees.

“Their feedback, together with feasibility studies by our professional estates and IT partners, have given us a robust basis for the conclusions being announced.”