Thousands of Scottish jobs at risk in HMRC office cull

HMRCHMRC is to consolidate its UK network of offices in a move which could see more than 2,000 jobs lost in Scotland.

More than 8,000 people are currently employed at the agency’s 18 Scottish offices, including major centres in Dundee, Cumbernauld and East Kilbride.

HMRC said by 2021, a maximum of 6,300 staff would be based at new regional centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

A smaller unit will be retained at the national crime campus in Gartcosh.



HM Revenue & Customs is to close all 170 of its offices as it seeks to move to a model of 13 regional hubs.

The Telegraph reports the move will put thousands of the Revenue’s 56,000 staff at risk of redundancy, although a spokesman declined to comment.

The tax office is briefing staff on the changes today.

Lin Homer
Lin Homer

The changes come after HMRC chief executive Lin Homer told MPs that the service was looking to move more services online.

Homer told the Treasury committee on Tuesday that HMRC was “very apologetic” for failing to answer as many as half of calls received from taxpayers between April and July.

HMRC is not a ring-fenced department and will be subject to Chancellor George Osborne’s spending review set to be announced on 25 November.

The SNP said the decision on closures comes as “a direct result of the Treasury’s demands for a swingeing 30% cuts to their budget – to satisfy George Osborne’s austerity agenda”.

Hannah Bardell MP, SNP Business spokesperson at Westminster said: “These closures are shocking and driven by George Osborne’s austerity demands. It is dreadful news for all those workers who will lose their jobs and for communities who depend on these offices to do vital work. They now face real uncertainty and anxiety purely because of an ideological drive to cut public services by a Westminster government.

“The Scottish Government are seeking urgent talks with the UK Government about these closures plans and I along with my other parliamentary colleagues are meeting Union representatives tomorrow.

“The Tories want to slash budgets across the board – so this is just the start of another five years of cuts and austerity – which was comprehensively rejected by the people of Scotland in May.”

“We know from reports by the Public Accounts Committee that staff at HMRC are currently under incredible strain because of workload and cuts already made. This can only add to that.’’

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