Even the taxman's not immune, with huge job cuts at Customs

Published on Thursday 4 December 2008 22:01

HUNDREDS of Scots will lose their jobs after massive cuts were announced at HM Revenue and Customs and across the private sector yesterday.

About 400 posts will be lost as two-thirds of the tax offices in Scotland shut.

Meanwhile, a Scottish utility company is to shed a quarter of its workforce following the collapse of the construction industry. Core Utilities – a subsidiary of ScottishPower – will make about 130 workers redundant across the UK.

A threat to a further 52 jobs in Scotland came with the announcement of problems at two Borders weaving firms.

Liquidators have been called into Riverside Spinning Mills, after attempts to find a buyer for the business failed. In total, 21 jobs there will be axed. A further 31 posts at its sister company, Border Weaving Company in Selkirk, are also under threat if a buyer is not found.

Elsewhere, Nomura Bank said 1,000 jobs would go in London while Credit Suisse said 11 per cent of its workforce, or 5,300 staff, would be axed worldwide. Honda said it would have to cut jobs in the UK and Japan, but did not disclose how many.

But it was the government cull of Customs jobs that triggered most concern. Twenty offices including those in Glenrothes, Falkirk, Ayr, Greenock, Inverness and Wick will be shut, leaving just nine HMRC offices north of the Border.

A phased shutdown will begin in 2010 and HMRC plans to fully vacate the buildings before spring 2012. Across Britain, there are plans to close more than 90 offices and axe 3,400 posts.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, said the government would do everything it could to help those affected. "It is important that right through the economy, there are vacancies and we match people up to them," he said during a visit to Edinburgh yesterday.

John Mason, the SNP work and pensions spokesman, called the decision to close the tax offices "madness" in a recession.

The Public and Commercial Services union expressed "deep concern" over the ability of the department to collect revenues and provide tax advice to the public and local businesses would be further undermined by the closures.

Services were already suffering, the union said.