YORK pension Centre is being axed because it has not got the capacity to take on additional work, it has emerged.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) this week announced controversial plans to close ten Pension Centres around Britain.

Alternative work has been found for eight centres, but York and Liverpool will be axed.

The news stunned the York Pension Centre's 313 employees, who could not understand why York was selected for closure.

The centre at Monks Cross was opened two years ago to administer applications for the new pension credit and winter fuel payments for pensioners.

A spokeswoman for the DWP said: "The work the York centre was doing could be done just as well elsewhere.

"York didn't have as great a capacity to take on extra work.

"Other centres have been modernised to cope with taking on extra work."

The revelation came a day after Pensions Minister Malcolm Wicks was blasted for suggesting York could cope with losing 313 jobs.

He said the staff who were made redundant would have a better chance of securing new work than people in other cities.

In remarks which sparked outrage, Mr Wicks said: "The Government assessed that compared with some parts of the country,

York's economy is fairly buoyant and therefore it is more likely some of those people will be able to find alternative work."

But John Greenway, Tory MP for Ryedale, condemned the comments as "completely unhelpful".

He said Mr Wicks had "thoroughly undermined" Work and Pensions Secretary Andrew Smith's pledge to encourage other Government departments to shift staff to the Pension Centre offices.

Mr Smith says the centre could be used by other Government departments as part of the Lyons Review, which aims to shift 20,000 civil service posts from London and the South East to the provinces, or to the private sector.

Updated: 10:18 Friday, July 02, 2004