31/07/2026
It's genuinely sad to hear that Cotswold House in Torquay is due to close. Our thoughts are with the staff and their families, who now face a period of uncertainty.
That said, it's important to separate the headlines from the reality. The building is leased rather than owned by the DWP, and much of the work carried out there can be transferred to other locations. So while around 130 posts are affected, that doesn't automatically mean 130 people will lose their jobs.
The real concern is that Torquay has no obvious nearby DWP office for staff to move to, so for many employees the future is far from clear. We sincerely hope every effort is made to redeploy staff wherever possible and keep compulsory redundancies to an absolute minimum.