Tax offices in West Midlands to shut in £27m cutbacks
Tax offices in Wolverhampton, Walsall and Brierley Hill will close as part of £27 million Government savings.
HM Revenue and Customs has announced it is closing all 281 of its walk-in centres across the country, putting 1,300 jobs at risk.
The centres gave face-to-face help to 2.5 million people with tax queries in 2012.
But HMRC will now replace them with a telephone service and home visits in a bid to cut costs, with the centres due to shut in May.
Union bosses said the move made 'no economic sense'.
The Wolverhampton inquiry centre in Crown House, Birch Street, will close with the loss of eight jobs. It shut early on Wednesday but a sign on the door said it would reopen again.
It said the closure was down to 'operational reasons' and apologised for any inconvenience.
Other centres are based in Waterfront Way, Brierley Hill where six will lose their jobs and Pattison House, Midland Road, in Walsall, which employs seven.
HMRC bosses defended the closures and insisted its new service – which has been introduced following a seven-month trial in the North East – would be more convenient.
Ruth Owen, director general for personal tax, said: "HMRC is dedicated to providing help to customers when they need it.
"The pilot showed that this is a valuable service for those who cannot get the help they need elsewhere.
"Our inquiry centres offer a great service to those who can reach them.
"But they are spread unevenly across the UK, the number of people using them continues to fall, and our research shows that the majority of customers who do use them don't actually need to.
"The new service will enable us to tailor help in a way that works better and is more affordable."
HMRC said only a 'very small minority' of its 40 million customers used one of the 281 centres and that demand had halved from five million visitors in 2005/06 to two million in 2013.
Some centres are now open form just one day a week.
The Public and Commercial Services Union criticised the move.
General secretary Mark Serwotka said: "HMRC has failed to make the case for closing these offices that provide a lifeline for vulnerable taxpayers.
"These closures seriously undermine the government's claim it wants to ensure people pay their taxes, and it makes no economic sense to continue cutting jobs from the very department that collects the revenue that funds the public services we all rely on."
HMRC said it was discussing the impacts of closures with staff in inquiry centres.
