Councillors urged to stop closure

County councillors in Mid Wales are being urged to support their tax office and save it from potential closure.

A motion has been drawn up for Powys County Council to oppose the move.

The motion against the planned closure of the tax office in Welshpool will go before the full council at a meeting tomorrow.

It follows a day of strike action at the beginning of the month, when members of the Public and Commercial Services Union picketed the tax office in Severn Road, Welshpool, protesting against the closure plans.

Councillor Karen Riffel, who proposed the motion, said closure would lead not only to job losses but to a reduction in services.

She said the contact centre currently handled many queries on a personal level relating to Inland Revenue, pensions, self-employment returns, repayments, P60 and Working Tax Credits.

“Powys has the highest number of self-employed in Wales, possibly even the UK; it is also a county with many on low wages, with a high eligibility for Working Tax Credit,” she said.

“If the Welshpool tax office were to be closed, support and the response to queries would be transferred to Wrexham, dealt with online or by phone, where difficulties in passing on information could arise.”

She said that she believed there could be serious consequences for Powys’s economic development if the closure were to go ahead.

“The council should send a very strong representation against the withdrawal of this service to Mr Paul Gray, chairman of the board of HM Revenue and Customs at the Inland Revenue,” she said.

“The building in Welshpool also houses a Job Centre. The Ministry of Defence also has offices there.”