HMRC set to close 16 West Midlands offices in service reorganisation

HM Revenue and Customs has revealed details of a major shake-up of services in the West Midlands which will result in the closure of 16 local offices across the region.

The plan is likely to lead to redundancies as the department aims to establish a new super-office in Birmingham city centre by 2019-20, housing more than 3,000 staff.

(See below for the full list of closures)

It has not revealed where the new regional centre will be because of negotiations with contractors and landlords.

The move marks the half-way point in a ten-year modernisation programme which the HMRC said was designed to create a tax authority fit for the future.

The modernisation programme includes investment in new online services, data analytics, new compliance techniques, new skills and new ways of working, to make it easier for people to pay their tax.

The department said the move would also improve customer service and make it harder for people to cheat the system. The changes have already resulted in over 80% of people filing their Self Assessment returns online.

HMRC’s workforce in the region is currently spread throughout 16 offices, many of which are a legacy of the 1960s and 1970s. It said that by bringing them together in large, modern offices, equipped with digital infrastructure and training facilities, the organisation would support more skilled jobs and varied career paths up to senior levels with less need to move around the country.

It said it expected between 3,100 and 3,400 full-time equivalent employees to work in the new regional centre.

HMRC is also retaining a Specialist Site in Telford, in the West Midlands, as one of its core digital centres.
 
It said it would close most of its existing offices in the West Midlands by 2019-20, as it moved most employees into the new regional centres.
 
Where offices are a long way from a regional centre and it is not possible for employees to move to work in one, HMRC said it would all it could to find new roles, either elsewhere in the civil service, or outside, in order to minimise redundancies.
 
Lin Homer, HMRC’s Chief Executive, said: “HMRC is committed to modern, regional centres serving every region and nation in the UK, with skilled and varied jobs and development opportunities, while also ensuring jobs are spread throughout the UK and not concentrated in the capital.
 
“HMRC has too many expensive, isolated and outdated offices. This makes it difficult for us to collaborate, modernise our ways of working, and make the changes we need to transform our service to customers and clamp down further on the minority who try to cheat the system.
 
“The new regional centre in Birmingham will bring our staff together in a more modern and cost-effective building in an area with lower rent. It will also make a big contribution to the economy of the West Midlands providing high-quality, skilled jobs and supporting the Government’s commitment to a national recovery that benefits all parts of the UK.”

The offices closing between 2016-17 and 2020-21 are:

●    City Centre House in Birmingham will close in 2019-20 and move into the new regional centre in Birmingham
●     Norfolk House in Birmingham will close in 2019-20 and move into the new regional centre in Birmingham
●          Bridge House, in Brierley Hill, will close in 2016-17 and staff will move into City Centre House, Birmingham, before moving to the new regional centre in 2019-20.
●          Merry Hill in Brierley Hill will transfer to Department for Work and Pensions but a timetable has not been scheduled.
●     Sherbourne House in Coventry is set to be closed in 2019-20, with staff moving to the new regional centre in Birmingham
●     Princess House in Northampton is set to close in 2020-21
●    Northgate House in Northampton is set to close in 2016-17, with staff moving to Princess House in Northampton for a transitional period.
●     Sapphire East in Solihull will close in 2019-20, with staff moving to the new regional centre in Birmingham.
●     Royal House in Solihull will close in 2019-20, with staff moving to the new regional centre in Birmingham.
●     Boyd House I and II, Abbey House and Matheson House in Telford will close in 2017-18, but will then form part of the Specialist Site in Telford.
●     Parkside Court in Telford will close in 2019-20, with staff moving into the new   regional centre in Birmingham and some into the specialist site in Telford in 2019-20
●          Pattison House in Walsall will close in 2016-17, with staff moving to City Centre House in Birmingham as a transitional site. In 2019-20, they will then move into the new regional centre, also in Birmingham.
●     Crown House in Wolverhampton will close in 2019-20, with staff moving into the new regional centre in Birmingham.
●          Council Buildings in Worcester will close in 2019-20, staff may move to the new regional centre.