ANOTHER 16 Scottish jobcentre sites are to close or move in a Westminster cuts programme affecting more than one in ten of the offices across the UK.

Communities in Port Glasgow, Benbecula, Grangemouth and Alexandria are among those set to be affected.

Employment Minister Damian Hinds said the changes would save £180 million a year for the next decade, with the “vast majority” of staff given the chance to relocate or offered alternative roles.

However, Sandra White MSP, who convenes Holyrood’s Social Security Committee, called them a “betrayal” and Rob Gowans of Citizens Advice Scotland said low-income families will suffer, stating: “Scottish CAB advisers deal every day with vulnerable people who really do rely on the services that local Jobcentres provide.

“Our evidence shows that many of those people are on very low incomes and simply cannot afford to travel long distances. Many are also unable to use the internet as an alternative because they lack the skills or the access.”

Last month the DWP announced it is divesting itself of 13 job centres in Scotland, including eight closures in Glasgow.

Just three of these city sites have gone up for consultation, with that process ending on the last day of January. The others were not included due to DWP rules over the proximity between offices, but SNP MPs claim they were told DWP officials had used Google Maps to calculate the distances and relied out out-of-date bus routes to work out travel times.

Of the new raft of sites earmarked for closure or relocation, just two will go for consultation, including Broxburn, which will shift to Livingston job centre, and Grangemouth, where services will move to Falkirk.

Elsewhere, Port Glasgow will move into Greenock job centre, Alexandria will move into Dumbarton job centre while Edinburgh City will move to High Riggs and Wester Hailes.

Job centres in Lanark and Wick will move into other buildings in the towns while Benbecula and Inverness are also affected, as are back offices in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Coatbridge, Cumnock and Paisley.

The DWP says many offices are under used due to the rise in online services. Eight out of ten claims for jobseeker’s allowance are made through the internet and 99.6 per cent of applicants for Universal Credit submit their claims that way.

Announcing the cuts, the DWP said the UK’s employment rate is at a record high, ignoring regional and national differences such as the markedly lower rate in Scotland.

Hinds said: “The way the world works has changed rapidly in the last 20 years and the welfare state needs to keep pace.

“As more people access their benefits through the internet, many of our buildings are under-used. We are concentrating our resources on what we know best helps people into work.

“The changes we’ve announced today will help ensure that the way we deliver our services reflect the reality of today’s welfare system.”

PCS, which represents more than half of the DWP’s 80,000 employees, says thousands of workers will be affected by the changes, which affect 78 of the overall 714 UK centres.

National Officer Lynn Henderson said: “Job centres provide a lifeline for unemployed people, and forcing them to travel further is not only unfair it undermines support to get them back to work. We are opposed to these closures and will vigorously fight any attempt to force DWP workers out of their jobs.”

Labour’s shadow Work and Pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams said: “At a time when the Tories are cutting social security and introducing sanctions for low-paid workers, it’s reckless at best and perverse at worst for the government to close so many jobcentres.

“Only this government’s distorted austerity agenda could lead to such contradictory policies.

“The decision to close jobcentres across the country shows they are not serious about helping people to find decent, secure and well-paid work.”

Holyrood Employability Minister Jamie Hepburn said the failure to involve the Scottish Government goes against the principles of the Smith Agreement, branding the DWP’s methods “shambolic”.

Meanwhile, White said: “We’ve known all along that the cuts announced in Glasgow were just the tip of the iceberg, and today’s news simply confirms this.

“These cuts will have a disastrous impact on communities up and down Scotland, effectively robbing them of easy access to a vital local service to help them gain skills and find employment. The Tories have been unable to answer even the most basic questions since making this announcement, which is completely unacceptable and yet another Tory betrayal of Scotland.”