Greymouth IRD jobs to go

Inland Revenue is cutting 27 jobs in regional offices including the hard-hit town of Greymouth.

IRD acting deputy commissioner, service delivery, Heather Daly said offices and counters were maintained but some positions in Timaru (13), Greymouth (8) and Gisborne (6), were being cut. Some jobs would also go at processing sites at Christchurch and Te Rapa.

The Public Service Association (PSA) said the cuts were large - 10 out of 22 jobs were being cut from the East Coast operation, 10 out of 17 from the West Coast and 16 out of the 27 jobs in Timaru.

Services in Dunedin, Whangarei, Tauranga Rotorua, Palmerston North, Napier, Invercargill and New Plymouth may be scaled back at a later stage, PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff said.

"The cuts for these three small sites represent a staff reduction of around 50 per cent. If this trend continues for phase two and three of IRD's restructuring more than 500 jobs could go."

The West Coast is struggling this week with the news that Pike River coal mine has gone into receivership after an explosions that killed 29 workers.

Labour MP Grant Robertson said: "Today's announcement is a particular blow to the people of the West Coast and Greymouth who have had enough to deal with lately."

Mr Wagstaff said the jobs were needed in the centres.

"Those who lose their jobs may need to move to other locations and that will take spending power out of the communities and have a significant impact on local businesses."

He said the Justice Ministry was also looking at removing jobs from smaller towns.

"The irony is that these jobs are what IRD calls `virtual jobs' - jobs the department admits can be done anywhere but wants to move them out of the regions and into the main centres for economies of scale."

Financial arguments were also questionable, he said, given the cost of redundancies the risk of lower compliance in the regions.

Mr Robertson said the Government had promised frontline services but was instead cutting services in the regions in favour of centralisation.

Ms Daly said customer needs in each community needed to be met; "our changes reflect that.

"We're focusing on providing local communities with targeted services so it is easy for customers to file returns, pay tax and receive payments.

"Work not requiring face-to-face contact, such as processing and letter writing, is being grouped in larger centres allowing smaller sites to increase their focus on education and advisory services for their community."

Options for relocation and retraining are being explored.

"We have been engaging with staff as we work through the process and they will be fully supported through any changes."

She said no decisions have been made about any other Inland Revenue sites.

- NZPA