Department for Work and Pensions officials based at the organisation’s Lincoln service centre are set to stage two further weeks of strikes early next year in their dispute over the closure of the office.
Members of the PCS union who currently work at the service centre have already taken several weeks of strike action as part of the dispute. They will now strike from January 5-16.
According to PCS, the office closure plans put more than 80 members of staff at risk of redundancy.
The union has warned that many of the staff working at the centre are low paid and would be unable to travel to other DWP offices or other civil service locations. It has been urging DWP to reconsider the closure.
“Members see little sense in closing the service centre, which DWP state is a cost-cutting measure,” the union said. “PCS has calculated that the cost of redundancy payments would pay rental of the office for 16 years.
“The cost of losing such experienced staff, at a time when DWP will be required to undertake significant transformation of the social security system, is immeasurable. Government and the DWP can simply not deliver significant transformation without experienced and committed staff.”
A DWP spokesperson said the department has been "focusing on supporting our staff through this transition, with redeployment our first priority and a voluntary redundancy scheme in place for those we have so far been unable to redeploy".
“The closure of Lincoln City Hall Service and Support Centre will have no impact on Lincoln Jobcentre, which remains fully operational, nor on the vital services we deliver to customers," they added.