Torbay MP Steve Darling is pushing for an urgent meeting with a government minister after the Department for Work and Pensions revealed it will close Cotswold House in Torquay, placing about 130 jobs in doubt. Steve Darling raised the closure twice in Parliament last week and has secured talks with the Transformation Minister to argue for keeping the roles in the community.
The back-office administrative centre on Warren Road is one of nine Service and Support Centres the DWP plans to shut across the UK by September 2027. Staff at Cotswold House said they were given no prior warning and were told to remain silent about the decision. “There was no consultation. It was quite sterile. People are incredibly angry and upset and were told to say nothing,” the family of a worker stated.
The Torquay site is the only one on the closure list with no alternative DWP office nearby, a fact the PCS union says will force staff into longer commutes or out of their jobs entirely. The union has pledged to fight the programme, which it calls a cost-cutting exercise that creates real uncertainty for workers in the most deprived part of the South West. PCS General Secretary Fran Heathcote said the closures bring “uncertainty, longer journeys, disruption to family life and the very real risk of losing their jobs.”
A DWP spokesman said no public-facing services would be affected because Cotswold House handles internal administrative work. The department is meeting each colleague individually to discuss redeployment, possibly into Torquay Jobcentre or other offices if suitable posts exist. The union argues few civil service alternatives sit within a reasonable daily journey, leaving staff with limited choices.
The closure was announced on 25 June 2026 as part of what the DWP describes as modernising its estate, citing buildings that are old, inefficient and under-used because of hybrid working. Mr Darling has said many of the workers in Torquay are older people whose wages top up inadequate pensions, making the loss felt sharply in a town with some of the country’s most deprived wards.
About this article: This story was put together with the help of AI tools and checked by a real person on our team. We're a small crew trying to cover as much of the UK as we can on a limited budget. We're getting better every day - but we're not perfect yet. If something looks off, let us know. You're part of the process.
