3000 HMRC jobs move to Edinburgh
18 July 2017
Up to 3000 tax office roles are to be relocated to Edinburgh’s New Waverley development, with tax bases in Livingston and Bathgate closing as a result.
BBC News has reported that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is to consolidate its UK network of offices in a move which could see more than 2,000 jobs lost in Scotland.
More than 8,000 people are currently employed at the agency's 18 Scottish offices, including major centres in Dundee, Cumbernauld and East Kilbride.
HMRC said by 2021, a maximum of 6,300 staff would be based at new regional centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh. A smaller unit will be retained at the national crime campus in Gartcosh.
HMRC's chief executive Lin Homer said:
"HMRC has too many expensive, isolated and outdated offices.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 centres in Glasgow and Edinburgh will bring our staff together in more modern and cost-effective buildings in areas with lower rents. They will also make a big contribution to the Scottish economy, providing high-quality, skilled jobs and supporting the government's commitment to a national recovery that benefits all parts of the UK."
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the announcement on office closures "appeared to put significant numbers of jobs in Scotland at risk".
Speaking at Holyrood, she told MSPs she would be seeking urgent talks with the UK government to discuss the matter.
Read more from BBC News.