‘£22m bill to move Archway Tower civil servants’

Published: 19 November, 2010
by PETER GRUNER

RELOCATING up to 200 civil servants from Archway to Birmingham will cost the government £22million, according to unions fighting the move this week.

Under the plan, reported in the Tribune last week, staff from the Offices of the Public Guardian (OPG) at 17-storey Archway Tower will be moved north or redeployed across London over three years to save money.

The jobs of an additional 250 civil servants who work for the Court of Protection at the tower are safe, at least for the time being.

Opponents say the move will be bad for the local economy, as office workers frequent dozens of shops, cafés and restaurants.

Phil Cosgrove, chairman of the Public and Commercial Services Union’s Islington branch, said: “We can show that, rather than saving money, this move will actually be extremely costly.”

The figure of £22m has come from managers at the tower who are unhappy about the move, he added.

The OPG enables people to seek a lasting power of attorney over relatives whose mental illness makes them unable to make decisions. 

Staff visit thousands of mentally and physically disabled people in the South-east.

The union claims the department will be replaced by a “poorly staffed, glorified call centre” in Birmingham.

The move was recommended to the previous Labour government by Sir Michael Lyons, who in his report last year called for 2,000 civil servants to be moved out of London.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “The Office of the Public Guardian has already seen growth in its business beyond expectations, and plans to continue to grow in the future. 

“Quite apart from the limits on capacity in Archway Tower, the nature of OPG business is such that we can and will provide a better and more cost effective service through locating the majority of business away from London.”