Fear over NI tax and customs jobs

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6155774.stm

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About 200 tax and customs jobs could be lost in Northern Ireland to meet government cost-cutting targets.

HM Revenue and Customs has launched a UK-wide consultation on its future and is more than half-way through a programme to cut 12,500 jobs by 2008.

Staff in Londonderry have been told about 90 jobs will disappear. Foyle MP Mark Durkan said people were concerned.

A HMRC spokesperson said it was hoped the target could be reached without compulsory redundancies.

Mr Durkan, who is the leader of the SDLP, said: "This news reinforces the need - which we have been stressing for some time - for a clear and proactive approach to decentralisation."

John Dallat of the SDLP said the Coleraine office could close. He said it would "have a profound effect on the economy" of the area.

Sinn Fein has claimed the move breaches the strategic zoning policy and will cause hardship.

Spokesman Mitchel McLaughlin claimed civil service jobs were "haemorrhaging" from the west of the River Bann to the greater Belfast area.

Staff throughout the UK have now been briefed by managers about proposals to make savings and union leaders fear a further 12,500 jobs could be lost nationwide.

HMRC denied it was announcing more job losses but said it was consulting.

The Public and Commercial Services Union has said it believes around a third of the HMRC's UK offices will close - totalling more than 200.

'Greater efficiency'

HMRC said it was not signalling more office closures or job losses, but will be consulting unions on how to deliver a more efficient service.

However, sources at the department have told the BBC that the consultation will result in another reduction in the workforce - although a final figure has not been agreed.

Union chiefs claim the cuts have already caused a backlog of a million items of post in the HMRC. These included P45s, tax codes, tax credit repayments and self assessment tax returns.

A consultation period is set to take place from December between HMRC, the workers and the unions.

The government has rejected claims that any cut-backs would lead to greater inefficiencies.

In July, about 8,000 HM Revenue and Customs staff staged a 24-hour strike over the planned job cuts.