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To: Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Reconsider the Closure of Torquay DWP Office and Protect Local Jobs
We, the undersigned, call on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to urgently reconsider the proposed closure of the DWP office in Torquay and to take all necessary steps to protect jobs, services and livelihoods in the local community.
The proposed closure would have a significant and detrimental impact on the workforce. It threatens the loss of hundreds of years of combined experience and expertise at a time when the Department is undergoing major transformation and needs skilled, experienced staff more than ever.
The closure would remove secure, high-quality public sector jobs from an area with limited opportunities for comparable employment. It would also increase economic hardship in a community that can ill afford the loss of well-paid and skilled jobs.
We are concerned that alternative options have not been properly explored. The Department appears to have prioritised its hub strategy over avoiding job losses, despite the existence of other office locations, including existing DWP estate, within reasonable travelling distance. The option of home working as a redundancy avoidance measure, which is already used across other government departments, has also not been adequately considered.
The justification for closures based on environmental objectives is flawed. Any reduction in the environmental impact of older buildings must be weighed against the increased travel required for staff forced to relocate to more distant offices, resulting in additional costs and emissions.
Furthermore, forcing experienced staff out of the Department would represent poor value for taxpayers. Any redundancy or exit costs would be funded from the public purse, even though significant workloads remain across the DWP and recruitment continues in other parts of the Department. The work itself is not ending; this is the DWP forcing through this closure as part of its estate’s strategy.
Staff in Torquay face a particularly acute risk because there are very limited opportunities for redeployment within reasonable travelling distance. This leaves many employees facing the prospect of redundancy through no fault of their own.
We therefore call on the Secretary of State to:
- Reconsider and halt the proposed closure of the Torquay DWP office.
- Keep DWP jobs local and retain good-quality public sector employment in Torquay and surrounding communities.
- Ensure that any redeployment opportunities are to roles at the same pay grade and on no less favourable terms and conditions.
- Fully consider alternative solutions, including relocation to other local premises DWP sites and home working arrangements, before any office closure proceeds.
- Carry out and publish a comprehensive Equality Impact Assessment before any final decision is made, ensuring that the effects on protected groups, carers, disabled staff and those with caring responsibilities are properly understood and addressed.
- Commit to avoiding compulsory redundancies wherever possible and retaining the valuable experience and expertise of existing staff.
The proposed closure is not driven by the end of the work carried out in Torquay. It is the result of an estates strategy that risks losing experienced staff, damaging the local economy and wasting public money. We urge the Government to rethink this decision and put workers, services and communities first.
Why is this important?
This matters because the proposed closure isn't about the work ending, it's about an office closing. The jobs still need doing, but experienced staff could be forced out of the DWP or asked to travel much further for work. In an area with limited opportunities for similar jobs, that would be a real blow to workers, their families and the local economy.