NI economy: Over 1,000 jobs created in communities department

It is understood 270 jobs will be based in Londonderry, 595 in Belfast, 116 in Ballymena and 27 in Ballykelly.

Lyons made the announcement on Tuesday during a visit to DfC offices by DWP Minister Andrew Western.

The expansion will build on an existing agreement with DWP for the delivery of child maintenance and benefit services in Great Britain with the majority of the additional jobs permanent, full-time posts.

At present, over 3,600 people within DfC are currently engaged in delivering services for DWP, based in Belfast, Londonderry, Ballykelly and Ballymena.

Of these, 46% are permanent and 54% are agency workers and agreement has been reached for this to increase by a further 1,000 FTE and for DfC to work towards a 70% permanent/30% agency worker split.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said this is “a strengthening of this long-standing relationship with the creation of a further 1,000 jobs over the coming months, offering a majority of permanent full-time roles and opportunities across Northern Ireland”.

Minister for Transformation at DWP, Andrew Western said he was “delighted to visit Northern Ireland for the first time as a DWP Minister to see the positive impact the DfC teams are delivering on the ground.

“Bringing 1,000 new service delivery jobs to these four areas of Northern Ireland will be invaluable to the local economy through providing more jobs for people and in delivering a key service for our customers.”