HMRC workers in Dundee ‘betrayed’ by Scottish Government over job losses
HMRC workers in Dundee have accused the Scottish Government of betraying them by failing to offer them “early access” to job vacancies with Social Security Scotland (SSS).
The HMRC office in Dundee is expected to close in 2022 as part of a reorganisation of the UK government agency’s operations, the PCS trade union has said.
The union expected the Scottish Government to put over 100 job vacancies at SSS to HMRC staff under the expression of interest (EOI) mechanism.
The mechanism is designed to allow staff facing redundancy in one part of the public sector to be transferred to another agency.
However, the mechanism was not used because the HMRC redundancies are too far in the future, The Courier reports.
PCS North Scotland branch secretary David Lardner said: “Staff in Dundee are furious.
“They feel betrayed that the undertakings intimated by the Scottish Government have been abandoned and further that the Scottish Government have still failed to answer their elected representative’s urgent queries as to why.”
Social security secretary Shirley Anne Somerville said: “We are actively promoting our vacancies and encouraging HMRC staff to apply for posts and providing support to do so, fully meeting the commitments that both HMRC and Social Security Scotland agreed to.
“The planned HMRC redundancies are several years away and there still needs to be a competitive process to ensure Social Security Scotland gets the best people for its jobs.
“When fully operational Social Security Scotland will employ over 1900 people in Dundee, Glasgow and communities across the country.”