19/06/2003

Pension centre delivers 190 jobs for North West

A new Social Security Agency Pension Centre that will employ 190 people in Londonderry has been officially opened today.

Speaking at the ceremony at Carlisle House, Hawkin Road, John Hunter, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Social Development, said the new Centre proved the Government's commitment to tackling pensioner poverty and to provide the best possible support to pensioners throughout Northern Ireland.

He added: "The service is specifically tailored to meet the needs of the elderly and represents a whole new way of working in public services. It offers people the opportunity to make claims and get advice and information about services by telephone from the comfort of their own homes. Staff here will also be encouraging and promoting the uptake of benefits amongst what is one of the most vulnerable groups in our society.”

Highlighting the efforts made by the Social Security Agency to ensure that pensioners received all the benefits to which they were entitled, Mr Hunter also welcomed the announcement of the new jobs in the city.

“It is also great news for employment and regeneration in the city of Derry. The location of the new centre in a former shirt factory is evidence of how buildings that fuelled the industrial expansion of the city in the past can be used to secure its economic future.”

Mr. Hunter was taken on a tour of the new Pension Centre and shown photographs of how the building has developed from a shirt factory in 1876 through to its current use as a modern pension centre.

(MB)

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