Employees in Dundee and Perth — who have been on tenterhooks for months wondering whether their jobs were being lost in a national restructuring — were today finally informed of their fate.

Public and Commercial Services Union Scotland East branch secretary Hamish Drummond said the news was devastating for staff in Perth but a little better for those in Dundee where losses were less than expected.

“The loss of Perth Office is not something PCS will accept without a fight, and we will continue to campaign for retention.

“For members in Dundee, the partial assurances we have won about their long-term future represent a victory, but we know the department changes its plans on a daily basis, and we will continue our campaign to hold them to their word, and to prevent any job losses.”

Meanwhile, Dundee PCS representative Steve Ferrier slammed HMRC for a farcical mix up that saw staff in Dundee and in an office in Coleraine in Northern Ireland sent the wrong information about the job losses in an internal memo.

Mr Ferrier said, “Local PCS members, petrified for their future looked to the department to make things clear to them today, after four years of uncertainty for them and their families.

“The figures wrongly released for Coleraine will have given members there false hope, while members in Dundee have been scared witless by this mistake.”

HMRC said today the job losses were part of its strategic Regional Review Programme and it was now entering into a period of consultation with staff.

The authority currently has 1870 staff across 29 locations and is looking to reduce numbers to save money.

Mary Hay, HMRC Director responsible for the review, said, “By consolidating work in fewer locations HMRC will be able to work more efficiently and so improve customer service as well as providing better value for money.”

HMRC has not identified the specific jobs that will be lost and PCS fears they may go from across the three operational departments in Dundee — the customer contact centre, debt management and banking and the compliance section which investigate tax avoidance.

SNP politicians in Dundee reacted with fury at the confusion over the fate of civil service posts in the city.

Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie said, “It is an outrage that they managed to bungle the announcement by confusing the jobs figures for Coleraine with Dundee.

“For members of staff at HM Customs & Revenue in Dundee nervously awaiting the announcement, this was a cruel blow.

“The actual numbers of jobs to be lost — 44 — is not quite as bad as we had feared, but even here there is confusion.

“The staff in Dundee have been told the work they do is safe but that 44 individuals will lose their jobs at some point in the future.”

Shona Robison, Dundee East MSP, said, “The delays in making this announcement alerted our suspicion that it would be bad news. We expected the worst but have had further confusion today.

“Our sympathies are with the staff at Caledonian House in Greenmarket who are having to cope with further uncertainty. Each one of them will be worrying if they are to be one of the 44.

“The work done in Dundee is valuable and important and that seems to have been confirmed. On the other hand, some of the workers are to lose their jobs.

“It makes no sense. This is purely about the UK Government saving money — at the expense of jobs in Dundee and Perth.”

Joe FitzPatrick, MSP for Dundee West said great efforts had been put in, on a cross-party basis, over a number of years, to bring civil service jobs to the city.

“That has been undermined today,” he stormed. “Dispersal of civil service jobs is one of the few levers open to the UK Government for direct job creation.

“Given the jobs lost recently in other sectors, the decision to cut these jobs seems perverse, as if the Labour Government is punishing the city further.”

Commenting on the situation, SNP Councillor Jim Barrie said there was a need for clarity on how the decision to centralise work and cut jobs will affect Dundee.

He added, “We will support the Public and Commercial Services Union's attempt to get the Government to end its indecision and bring to an end the uncertainty hanging over the heads of staff at Caledonian House.”

Meanwhile, Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart described the Perth HMRC office closure and its job losses for the Fair City as a “bitter blow”.

Mr Wishart has been closely involved in discussions surrounding the future of the office and held several meetings with John Oswald, HMRC Scotland East Public and Commercial Services Union branch chairman, and members of staff at the Perth HMRC.

On hearing the closure news he said, “This closure has been one of calculation and stealth, which had slowly but surely stripped this centre back to the bone.

“I have been involved in Trade Union discussions throughout the long period as this office was being slowly run down by central government.

“I fully supported the PCS campaign to stop the heart being ripped out of public service provision. What people want, and what works, is being able to speak to people face to face rather than being shunted on to phone lines to teams based hundreds of miles away.

“This move will see a loss of a range of employment opportunities and I think it is a bitter blow to lose these high quality civil service jobs from Perthshire.”

Mr Wishart called the Government’s treatment of Civil Service workers in this centralisation push “atrocious”.

He added, “My office receives a constant stream of complaints about the operation of these systems and few ever relate to the efforts of individual staff members, but have everything to do with the massive cuts being imposed by central government.

“How closing down a local office will assist with HMRC’s operations in Perthshire is beyond me.

“This closure threatens to disadvantage the most vulnerable, whether it is for tax credits, benefits or many other government services.”