Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department plans to provide to Jobcentre Plus employees affected by the closure of Shop Direct centres in Greater Manchester.

DWP representatives attended an initial meeting on Friday 13 April called by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. Council Leaders, local MPs, representatives from the Manchester Growth Company, the USDAW Trade Union, and the Shop Direct Executive Board also attended.

It was agreed at the meeting that a task force would be established and become the principal point of engagement with Shop Direct in the run up to the closure of the Greater Manchester sites. The initial task force meeting was held on 30 April with DWP in attendance.

DWP detailed our Response to Redundancy offer of support for employees facing immediate redundancy which will be provided at the appropriate time, as agreed with the company. Response to Redundancy support is implemented within a timeframe of 13 weeks before and up to 13 weeks after the notified redundancy date. The next meeting for the taskforce is 29 May and DWP’s Employer Engagement Team for the Oldham area will be representing DWP at the meeting

We will support individual employees with tailored packages of support which we can enhance with use of Flexible Support funding, such as by removing barriers to employment, providing pre-employment training and support and skills training.