Over 1,000 jobs created in communities department

Over 1,000 jobs are to be created in the Department for Communities (DfC), the Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has announced.

It is part of an expansion in service delivery for the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The roles in benefit delivery will be located in four existing DfC sites across Northern Ireland and are expected to bring additional inward investment of around £35 million per year.

The minister said the jobs would be a "massive boost for the local economy and is testament to the quality of service being delivered" by the DfC.

It is understood 270 jobs will be based in Londonderry, 595 in Belfast, 116 in Ballymena and 27 in Ballykelly.

Lyons made the announcement on Tuesday during a visit to DfC offices by DWP Minister Andrew Western.

The expansion will build on an existing agreement with DWP for the delivery of child maintenance and benefit services in Great Britain with the majority of the additional jobs permanent, full-time posts.

At present, over 3,600 people within DfC are currently engaged in delivering services for DWP, based in Belfast, Londonderry, Ballykelly and Ballymena.

Of these, 46% are permanent and 54% are agency workers and agreement has been reached for this to increase by a further 1,000 FTE and for DfC to work towards a 70% permanent/30% agency worker split.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said this is "a strengthening of this long-standing relationship with the creation of a further 1,000 jobs over the coming months, offering a majority of permanent full-time roles and opportunities across Northern Ireland”.

Minister for Transformation at DWP, Andrew Western said he was "delighted to visit Northern Ireland for the first time as a DWP Minister to see the positive impact the DfC teams are delivering on the ground.

“Bringing 1,000 new service delivery jobs to these four areas of Northern Ireland will be invaluable to the local economy through providing more jobs for people and in delivering a key service for our customers.”

Welcoming the announcement, DUP MLA Gary Middleton said this was a "demonstration of the minister’s commitment to regional balance and to the wider north west region".

Also welcoming the number of jobs to the north west region, SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan said: "These jobs will make a significant difference to our local economy, providing good jobs, and giving people more money to spend in local businesses.

"Particularly for the areas outside Belfast that so often struggle to get investment of this nature," Durkan added.