However, the Wick base of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – one of 20 Scottish tax offices facing the axe – has been given a three-and-a-half-year reprieve, allowing it to continue operating until 2012.

News of the impending closure came yesterday morning in a Government announcement. Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP John Thurso was briefed on the decision first in a call from the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms.

The unions were informed at 9.30am, and the staff at the Wick office were given the news shortly before 10 o'clock.

Speaking to the John O'Groat Journal yesterday, local Public and Commercial Services union representative Alick Reynolds confirmed that the 23 staff members had been told the office was to be vacated by the spring of 2012.

He said: "It does not look good for Wick... it is a very fragile economy."

While acknowledging that the announcement had not come as a complete shock, Mr Reynolds said there had been a "glimmer of hope" that the office would be saved. "We thought we put up a very good case," he said, adding: "This is just another example of work going out of the county."

The office in Wick's Girnigoe Street appears to have been given a longer continuation period than most of the other services being axed, and the local union representative hopes that this may leave the way open for an eleventh-hour change of heart.

Mr Reynolds said it was early days and that the staff did not know yet what options would be available to them. He pointed out that the staff were outwith the reasonable travel distance to another office.

He stressed that the loss of jobs would have knock-on effects for partners and families, who may also be forced to leave the area in search of work.

Mr Reynolds added that once the dust had settled they would be discussing the matter again with John Thurso, who he said had been "excellent" in his attempts to save the office.

A total of 25 Scottish offices were up for consideration in the HMRC national review which was announced in May, with 20 finally being earmarked for closure. An estimated 400 jobs will be lost.

Referring to the strength of the campaign carried out in support of the Wick tax office over the past few months, John Thurso said: "It is not good news for the North. I regret that the Government did not listen to the strength of opinion expressed... I am bitterly disappointed because I think the arguments for Wick were extremely strong."

The Lib Dem MP pointed out that the 2012 extension had been given as a direct result of the arguments that were made in favour of the Wick office, the only one on the mainland north of Inverness.

"It does mean it will keep going for the next three-and-a-half-years, which is better than nothing at all, and means the office will not be closing during a recession," John Thurso said. "As far as I am concerned the fight is not yet over – we will have more opportunity to put our argument forward."

During the campaign to keep the service, the Government was urged to consider Wick as a special case due to the impact a closure would have on the economy, particularly in light of the decommissioning programme at Dounreay.

While stating that Government ministers had chosen to ignore some of the information given to them, John Thurso said they had appeared to take on board the consequences of any closure by allowing the extended deadline.

Commenting on the fact that Stephen Timms was one of the ministers involved during the closure of the Department for Work and Pensions office in Wick, John Thurso said: "What I predicted then was that they would have trouble recruiting in Inverness, and they have had great difficulty and are now putting work back up to Wick.

"I think the same will happen with the tax office. One of the hopes is that the Wick office will prove to be quite self-sufficient, and therefore it will become more and more difficult to close as time goes by."

Pinpointing what he saw as weak spots in the report HMRC carried out on the Wick office, HIE area manager Roy Kirk said: "It seems that HMRC have considered the whole Highland region rather than the Caithness area. I think some of their logic is flawed.

"However, we will continue to work with HMRC and other Government departments to see what can be done to work for these jobs or create other new jobs. It is disappointing – the community has worked hard to demonstrate the need for this office in the area."

Mr Kirk added that the report had made no mention of the decommissioning of Dounreay in its impact assessment.

Also joining the fight to save the office was Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MSP Jamie Stone, who said: "This is very disappointing news. I had very much hoped that the argument to keep it open would win and, as constituents know, I have been pushing the Scottish Government as to how they might direct services which could be delivered by this office to make it more viable.

"The only light at the end of the tunnel is that we do have three-and-a-half-years and I for one am not prepared to accept this as a done deal. I see these years as a chance for all of us to continue to ask for the retention of the office.

"We cannot just give up now. As the MSP for the Far North, I have long had the sneaking feeling that the governments are apt to forget about the people of this area. For this reason we must redouble our efforts to preserve this sort of service."

George Bruce, chairman of the Caithness Partnership, which contacted the HMRC during the six-week consultation period, said: "We are very disappointed that this decision has been taken.

"If the Government is serious about decentralisation of civil service jobs, this appears to be the wrong way of going about it. We would urge them to replace these particular jobs with similar types of employment in other Government departments."

Condemning the decision to close the HMRC building in Wick, Highlands and Islands SNP MSP Rob Gibson said: "This dreadful decision adds to the feeling that London does not care to serve people in the Far North. The announcement will come as a real blow to those in Wick and Caithness."

The county's civic leader, Highland councillor David Bremner, said: "It is a thoughtless decision by centralising Government bureaucrats who care little for Caithness."

Referring to the Highland Council's offer to HMRC of office space within its proposed new Market Square premises, Mr Bremner said: "I was disappointed that our offer was ignored."

Mr Timms had stated in October that no compulsory redundancies were expected at the Wick tax office in the short to medium term.

During the same month John Thurso called for a debate in the House of Commons to consider the impact HMRC's proposals to close 25 of its offices in Scotland would have on rural economies.

The PCS union has condemned the decision to go ahead with the closure of 93 offices across the UK, resulting in the loss of over 3400 jobs by 2011. With the economic picture growing ever bleaker, the union warned that the closures would be bad for business, the public and the taxpayer, and would lead to the loss of valuable skills and expertise.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Rural areas will be disproportionately hit, with face-to-face tax advice reduced to a bare minimum and quality jobs taken out of local economies. As the recession worsens, this will come as a bitter blow to a dedicated workforce and will lead to a loss of valuable knowledge and expertise."

j.gunn@nosn.co.uk

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---