The Branch remains in correspondence with the local MPs regarding the closure of the majority of the DWP Norcross Site. We have also met one of the local MPs and one of the local Council Leaders in the last few weeks.
Members may have heard misinformation that the reason why
DWP Shared Service are remaining at DWP Norcross beyond September 2013 is
because they are moving to the Cabinet Office (when only one member of staff
may be doing so from April 2013, and it is not clear which parts of DWP Shared
Services may or may not be moving to the Cabinet Office in the long terms and
which ones may be remaining in the DWP) and not because everyone couldn’t fit
into Peel Park or Warbreck.
This is not the case, the actual reason is contained in the
following is an extract from a letter from the Employment Minister Mark Hoban
MP dated 13th January 2013;
“The recent change to the strategy is that c200 Shared
Services staff from DWP will not relocate to Peel Park but will move into
Tomlinson House with SPVA staff, based on the Norcross site. This change was in
response to an increase in contractor staff working on Welfare Reform projects
at Peel Park. It is recognised that delivery of the major Welfare Reform
projects is a high priority and the strategy was amended to reflect that.”
