Plans to relocate approximately 100 civil service jobs from Sheffield to London have been put on ice following last month's restructuring of government departments ordered by new prime minister Theresa May.
The former Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) prompted an outcry from civil service unions and local MPs when it announced in the spring that it was to close its St Paul's Place site in Sheffield and move all policy jobs to London, as part of wider plans to shave £350m from its running costs over the course of the parliament.
But May's Whitehall rejig has seen BIS merged with the Department for Energy and Climate Change, and responsibility for higher and further education policy move over to the Department for Education, which also occupies space in the Sheffield site.
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According to the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, approximately 100 civil servants with higher and further education roles at what was BIS Sheffield will now move over to the Department for Education when the formal transfer of functions takes place in the autumn.
However, Marion Lloyd, PCS's BIS group president, told Civil Service World that this did not constitute a fundamental rethink of the plan to centralise policy roles, with many jobs still at risk.
Lloyd said 70 to 75 Sheffield jobs were still set to be relocated to London, while a further 87 officials were already on the path to voluntary exit following the original closure announcement.
"Sheffield has lost 87 jobs. Unless between now and when people go we can stop this, they will be replaced with London people" – Marion Lloyd, PCS union
"We've got 87 people who will be leaving unless they can find employment," she said. "It's not really a choice – most of them do want a job. They will be leaving at the end of October or at the end of November under the voluntary exit scheme. But the former BIS board have confirmed they still wish to centralise policy in London."
She added: "Sheffield has lost 87 jobs. Unless between now and when people go we can stop this, they will be replaced with London people."
A spokesperson for DBEIS would not be drawn on the precise numbers involved in the transfer of Sheffield jobs to DfE.
But the spokesperson said: “The structure of the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announced by the prime minister means a number of policy areas will transfer to the Department for Education.
"Sheffield staff working in these areas will be moving to the Department for Education and we will be engaging with these staff and the departmental trades unions about these moves.”
CSW understands that higher and further education staff who had opted for voluntary redundancy have been given the chance to reconsider their decision given the new option of moving over to the DfE.
Both the PCS union and the FDA, which represents civil service managers, are asking for a rethink of the strategy underpinning the Sheffield closure decision, BIS 2020.
"Sheffield staff working in these areas will be moving to the Department for Education and we will be engaging with these staff and the departmental trades unions about these moves” – DBEIS spokesperson
BIS 2020 was drawn up ahead of last year's Spending Review, and set out plans for the department to be based in just seven regional sites – down from 80 locations – by the end of the parliament. It also vowed to cut headcount by 30-40%, and more than halve the total number of 45 partner bodies that it has under its remit.
The FDA's Victoria Taylor told CSW her union was looking for "all the conversations about BIS 2020 to just be stopped" while the new government structures bed in. "We can come back to those once people feel a bit more secure and things have settled down," she said.
But Taylor said her union would "continue to work with the employer on behalf of our members to mitigate against any compulsory redundancies".
She added: "As pieces of work have moved to other government departments, opportunities have arisen to consider how the civil service can retain staff with key skills and experience. We continue to support our members and participate fully in talks with all departments involved in the machinery of government changes."
PCS is meanwhile seeking a meeting with Greg Clark, the secretary of state for the new Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (DBEIS), to urge him to reconsider the office closure programme.