DWP announces closure of 20 Job Centres across the UK including in Sunderland - where they are

The temporary Job Centre on Tavistock Place opened in spring last year inside Sunderland Software Centre as part of the government’s ongoing plan for jobs. Temporary Job Centres were opened across the UK to allow for more social distancing in the wake of the pandemic.

Now, DWP has announced the closure of 20 of these temporary Job Centres in the UK, including the Tavistock Place site in Sunderland. The Job Centre in Sunderland city centre will remain open as normal.

A DWP spokesperson said: “We no longer need the temporary space we acquired during the pandemic to accommodate social distancing. To continue providing our essential employment support and other services in a way that is cost efficient for the taxpayer, we are phasing out these temporarily leased sites and staff and all customer services will return to the nearby established jobcentre.

“The closing of these temporary sites will not reduce our levels of service, or access to face-to-face appointments. Customers will return to being served by their established Jobcentre and there will be no reduction in the number of Work Coaches serving customers as a result.”

How will the closure affect you?

DWP say they do not expect the closures to have any impact on services to customers. They say the closure will not reduce their levels of service, or access to face-to-face appointments and that customers will return to being served by their established Job Centre.

Full list of closures 

• Aylesbury
• Bath 
• Blyth 
• Burnley 
• Dundee 
• Gateshead 
• Halifax 
• Inverness 
• Ipswich 
• Kettering 
• Leeds 
• Lincoln 
• London Hackney 
• London Kentish Town 
• London Sutten Carew 
• London Tooting 
• Stevenage 
• Sunderland 
• Swindon 
• Wigan 

When will the Job Centre in Sunderland close?

DWP say they expect first 20 sites, including Sunderland, to be formally decommissioned by March 2023