HMRC announce Edinburgh office deal

The UK government is to relocate 2,900 HMRC staff to a new hub at the centre of Edinburgh in a move that will see the number of the government department’s Scottish sites cut down to two main regional hubs.

The workforce, which will include some from other government departments, are to take up residence at the capital’s New Waverley development, near the city’s main train station.

It follows an announcement last year that 170 tax offices across the UK would be replaced with 13 regional centres.

In Scotland this has meant that HMRC offices in Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness and Livingston, will be closed and replaced with centre in Edinburgh and another in Glasgow.

The government has signed a leasing deal for more than 20 years on the New Waverley development, which it said showed the strength of its commitment to services outside London.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office, Caroline Nokes said: “This landmark development will deliver significant benefits to Edinburgh and the communities within it.

“Alongside significant savings for the taxpayer, the roll out of government hubs will provide modern working environments across the whole of the UK that will enable us to provide the best public services we can.

HMRC chief executive, Jon Thompson, added: “Locating HMRC’s new regional centre for Edinburgh in the New Waverley development is another step in HMRC’s transformation, into a modern, digitally-advanced tax authority.