A UNION warned today that new Civil Service jobs might not come quickly enough to York for staff facing the axe at the city's Pensions Centre.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) also said it feared that if government departments do relocate to York, many existing employees may move with them - leaving very few vacancies for local people to fill.

The Government announced last month that the Pensions Centre at Monks Cross, which only opened in September 2002, is to close next year with the loss of more than 300 jobs.

There have been suggestions that other government departments, for example the Ministry of Defence and Defra, might move jobs to York as part of a project to re-locate from London and the south-east to the provinces.

York MP Hugh Bayley has called for "joined-up" government, arguing that the Department for Work and Pensions should talk to other departments to see if they could provide alternative employment in York.

Tanya Walker, who represents about 170 PCS members working at the York Pensions Centre, said today that re-location details were sketchy and at an early stage, and might provide little assistance.

"We urge the Government to think again about the closure of York Pensions Centre," she said.

"The time frame being talked about leaves no time for the relocation of jobs to York and for staff to be redeployed into them.

"What is more, whilst departments and jobs are relocated, it is safe to say that some of those staff already assigned to them will also relocate, leaving very few vacancies for York Pension Centre staff.

"If the Government are serious about avoiding compulsory redundancies, then they need to sit down with the union and work out a joined-up strategy which protects jobs and public services in York."

Updated: 12:06 Saturday, July 10, 2004