By Brian Allison

ALMOST 70 jobs in Dundee and Perth are under threat from a nationwide review of HM Revenue and Customs operations.

Announcing the start of an eight-week consultation yesterday, HMRC said it was planning to withdraw from its office in Perth, which currently has 25 employees.

Although the office at Caledonian House in Dundee is to be retained, projected staff figures show a reduction in the number of employees there of 44 by 2011.

While that is less than the 94 posts which were feared in Dundee, the announcement was condemned by trade unions and local politicians.

Public and Commercial Services Union Scotland East branch secretary Hamish Drummond said the news was devastating for staff in Perth.

“The loss of the Perth office is not something PCS will accept without a fight and we will continue to campaign for retention,” he said.

“For members in Dundee the partial assurances we have won about their long-term future represents a victory…and we will continue our campaign to hold them to their word and to prevent any job losses.”

Dundee PCS representative Steve Ferrier criticised HMRC for a mix-up which meant staff in Dundee and an office at Coleraine in Northern Ireland were sent the wrong information in an internal memo.

A spokesman for HMRC said there had been one error in the figures initially issued to staff but that had been corrected before any official figures were published.

He said HMRC wanted to emphasise that the consultation that has just begun was purely about accommodation.

Mary Hay, HMRC director responsible for the review, said, “By consolidating work in fewer locations, HMRC will be able to work more efficiently and so improve customer service as well as providing better value for money.”

However, politicians in Perth and Dundee were quick to criticise HMRC for the proposals and the way they had been handled.

Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart said the loss of the Perth office and the jobs that went with it would be a bitter blow.

“This closure has been one of calculation and stealth, which had slowly but surely stripped this centre back to the bone,” he said.

“I have been involved in trade union discussions throughout the long period as this office was being slowly run down by central government.

“How closing down a local office will assist with HMRC’s operations in Perthshire is beyond me. What people want, and what works, is being able to speak to people face to face rather than being shunted on to phone lines to teams based hundreds of miles away.

“This closure threatens to disadvantage the most vulnerable, whether it is for tax credits, benefits or many other government services.”

Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie said it was an outrage that HMRC had managed to bungle the announcement by confusing the job figures for Coleraine and Dundee.

“The actual number of jobs to be lost (in Dundee)—44—is not quite as bad as we had feared but even here there is confusion,” said Mr Hosie.

“The staff in Dundee have been told the work they do is safe, but that 44 individuals will lose their jobs at some point in the future.”

Jim McGovern, MP for Dundee West, said, “I am very disappointed that Dundee has to endure yet further job losses, however, it is now more important than ever that the SNP honour their manifesto commitment to redistribute Scottish civil service jobs throughout Scotland, rather than have them clustered in Edinburgh.”

Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, said, “The delays in making this announcement alerted our suspicion that it would be bad news.

“Our sympathies are with the staff at Caledonian House in Greenmarket who are having to cope with further uncertainty. Each of them will be worrying if they are to be one of the 44.”

Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick said, “Great effort was put in—on a cross-party basis—over a number of years to bring civil services jobs to the city. That has been undermined today.”

Councillor Joe Morrow, convener of the city council’s economic development committee, said, “The council, along with other interested parties, will take part in the HMRC consultation exercise.”