Nine Jobcentres are to close in Yorkshire, including those in Brighouse and Batley, as part of cost-cutting plans which have been condemned by unions and the Labour Party.

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced plans to merge staff and facilities at 78 smaller Jobcentre Plus offices with larger ones nearby.

The plans will mean the following Yorkshire Jobcentres will close:

* Brighouse (Owler Ings Road).

* Batley (Wellington Road)

Batley's Wellington Road Jobcentre, which has been earmarked for closure
Batley's Wellington Road Jobcentre, which has been earmarked for closure

* Shipley (Wainman Street)

* Malton (Norton Road)

* Rotherham (High Street)

* Sheffield (Eastern Avenue)

* Skipton (Cavendish House)

* Hull (Market Place)

* Leeds (Eastgate)

A further 27 back offices will close nationwide, including Leeds City Office Park on Great Wilson Street and Sheffield’s Rockingham House on West Street.

Jobcentres being retained include Huddersfield’s Castle House on Market Street and Halifax’s Crossfield House, St James’s Road.

Huddersfield's Castle House Jobcentre
Huddersfield's Castle House Jobcentre

Huddersfield’s Crown House, Southgate, which is a Centre for Health and Disability Assessments, will also be retained, along with back offices at Halifax Crossfield House and at Dean Clough, Halifax .

The DWP said the plans would save £180m a year and allow under-used buildings to be vacated.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union warned that unemployed people will have to travel further to sign on – and claimed thousands of jobs will be put at risk.

A DWP source claimed a figure of thousands of job losses was “completely wrong” but estimated around 750 jobs were at risk.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Jobcentres 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.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham and Saddleworth, branded the closures “reckless at best and perverse at worst.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams
Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams

She said: “Only this government’s distorted austerity agenda could lead to such contradictory policies. Either the right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing, or they are both acting together to make working people’s lives harder.

“This Tory Government’s decision to close Jobcentres...shows they are not serious about helping people to find decent, secure and well-paid work.”

The DWP said four out of five claims for Jobseeker’s Allowance and 99% of applicants for Universal Credit submit claims online.

Minister for Employment Damian Hinds
Minister for Employment Damian Hinds

Damian Hinds, Minister for Employment, said: “We will always make sure that people have the support they need to get into and progress within work, that’s why we are recruiting 2,500 more work coaches to help those who need it most.”