The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to close 36 Jobcentres over the next few months, it has confirmed. The sites were originally launched to make sure social distancing guidelines were followed during the coronavirus pandemic. The sites, including in big cities such as London, Birmingham and Sheffield, were only set up to be “temporary additions” so they will now be closed, said the DWP. It added that the closure of these sites would not reduce the level of service it provides to claimants. No staff roles are believed to have been affected by the closures as they will move across to other Jobcentres. A DWP spokesperson told the Mirror: “We no longer need the temporary space we acquired during the pandemic to accommodate social distancing. “To continue providing our essential employment support and other services in a way that is cost-efficient for the taxpayer, we are phasing out these temporarily leased sites. Customers will return to being served by their established Jobcentre and there will be no reduction in the number of Work Coaches serving customers as a result.” It’s not the first time temporary Jobcentres have shut up shop in 2023. The DWP announced that 20 temporary Jobcentre sites were to close in February this year and a further 19 were then decommissioned in May. The DWP has not confirmed an official date for when the most recent sites will down shutters but says this phase of temporary Jobcentres closures is planned to be completed by the end of January 2024. The DWP currently runs over 600 permanent Jobcentres across the UK.
