19 June 2003
NEW PENSION CENTRE DELIVERS 190 JOBS FOR THE NORTH WEST
John Hunter, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Social Development, today officially opened a new Social Security Agency Pension Centre that will employ 190 people in Londonderry.
Speaking at the ceremony at Carlisle House, Hawkin Road, he said:
"This new Pensions Centre is a response to our commitment to tackle pensioner poverty and to provide the best possible support to pensioners throughout Northern Ireland. The service is specifically tailored to meet the needs of the elderly and represents a whole new way of working in public services. It offers people the opportunity to make claims and get advice and information about services by telephone from the comfort of their own homes. Staff here will also be encouraging and promoting the uptake of benefits amongst what is one of the most vulnerable groups in our society."
Mr Hunter continued by highlighting the efforts made by the Social Security Agency to ensure that pensioners received all the benefits to which they were entitled.
"Maximising the take-up of all pensioner-related benefit and services including the new State Pension Credit is vitally important. In recognition of this we have introduced a network of Pension Advisers in each of our local offices throughout Northern Ireland.
"The advisers, together with the staff in the Pension Centres, will ensure that we can effectively deliver the new State Pension Credit when it is launched later this year."
Mr. Hunter welcomed the announcement of the new jobs in Londonderry.
"It is also great news for employment and regeneration in the city of Derry. The location of the new centre in a former shirt factory is evidence of how buildings that fuelled the industrial expansion of the city in the past can be used to secure its economic future."
Mr. Hunter was taken on a tour of the new Pension Centre and shown photographs of how the building has developed from a shirt factory in 1876 through to its current use as a modern pension centre.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The telephone number for the new Pensions Centre is 0808 100 6165. Text phone 0808 100 1165.
The new Pensions Centre builds on the Social Security Agency’s successful tele-claims service, which simplified how fresh claims for retirement pensions are handled, the production of an easy reference signpost booklet the A-Z Guide for Pensioners and the extra money provided to pensioners through the Minimum Income Guarantee.
The decision to locate the Pensions Centre in Londonderry was the result of a detailed economic appraisal conducted by the Agency, which examined a number of locations west of the Bann and concluded that the site at Carlisle Road best met its requirements. The criteria for the new location included the availability of 28,000 sq ft ready for occupation in January to facilitate the acceptance of advance claims for State Pension Credit from April 2003. The location of the new centre had also to make best use of the Agency’s existing service provision, be easily accessible for staff and have a catchment area from which new staff could be recruited.
The North West Development Office of the Department for Social Development assisted with the identification of suitable sites.
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