Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has announced the creation of over 1,000 new jobs within his department.
The Department for Communities (DfC) is expanding its work for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in delivering child maintenance and benefit services in Great Britain.
Andrew Western MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transformation in the Department for Work and Pensions joined Minister Lyons on Tuesday at Great Northern Tower to announce the £35million per year investment into the economy.
As part of the expansion, the services will be delivered from service centres based in Great Northern Tower, CastleCourt, Goodwood House, Lisahally Service Centre (Strathfoyle), Jubilee House (Ballykelly) and Ballymena.
595 new jobs will be based in Belfast, 270 in Londonderry, 116 in Ballymena and 27 in Ballykelly.
“The creation of 1,000 new jobs is a massive boost for the local economy and is testament to the quality of service being delivered by my Department.
“At present, over 3,600 people within DfC are currently engaged in delivering services for DWP. This vital work is delivered out of sites in Belfast, Londonderry, Ballykelly and Ballymena.
“On a daily basis they are making an invaluable contribution supporting citizens across Britain to access welfare, pensions and child maintenance services.
“I am pleased to announce a strengthening of this long-standing relationship with the creation of a further 1,000 jobs over the coming months, offering a majority of permanent full-time roles and opportunities across Northern Ireland.”
– Communities Minister, Gordon Lyons
There are currently around 3,600 full-time equivalent staff in Northern Ireland delivering the services on behalf of the Department of Work and Pensions. 54% of these staff are agency workers, and 46% are employed permanently by the civil service.
The department said they are aiming towards a split of 70% permanent staff to 30% agency staff as part of the new agreement.
“I was delighted to visit Northern Ireland for the first time as a DWP Minister to see the positive impact the DfC teams are delivering on the ground.
“Bringing 1,000 new service delivery jobs to these four areas of Northern Ireland will be invaluable to the local economy through providing more jobs for people and in delivering a key service for our customers.”
– Minister for Transformation at DWP, Andrew Western
