£220k spent ondemoted office

THE Department of Social Development (DSD) spent nearly a quarter of a million pounds doing up Strabane’s social security office within the last two years only to later downgrade it to ‘front-line office only’ status and move 37 staff to Londonderry.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Jul 2012, 16:20 BST

The £220k refurbishment took place during 2010/11 and was necessary on health and safety and equaility grounds, the Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland has revealed.

Strabane MLA Michaela Boyle asked the Minister to outline the purpose of the recently completed refurbishment of the Social Security Agency (SSA) offices in Strabane, given that it has been earmarked as a front-office only service from September 2012.

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He replied: “A survey completed of the Social Security Agency offices in Strabane by the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) in 2010/ 11 identified a number of health and safety, Disability Discrimination Act and maintenance requirements that required urgent attention.

“The total costs involved to address these issues were £220,000.”

Ms Boyle recently claimed the ‘downgrade’ to a ‘front-line office only’ and the removal of 37 posts to a centralised office in Londonderry will further compound the Tyrone town’s dearth of civil service jobs.

Related topics:Strabane