EMPLOYEES of a Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) facility in Cwmbran could face a five hour round trip to get to work, if plans for a new site in Treforest go ahead.

Proposed closures could see DWP offices in south Wales, including Cwmbran’s Glyndwr House and Sovereign House in Newport, moved to a site in Treforest.

Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds travelled from Cwmbran to Treforest by bus and back by train with Siân Cousins, who is one of 200 staff in Torfaen at risk.

“Officially the DWP have not said where the office will be built but it is my understanding that it will be to the location in Treforest where I went with Siân,” said Mr Thomas-Symonds.

“I have received a letter from the employment minister Damian Hinds MP and in a parliamentary debate, I asked him about the assessment of where people lived who worked in Cwmbran and about the public transport options.

“The purpose of the trip was to illustrate the effect on those who live in Cwmbran but for also those will be required to travel from the Newport site.”

The journey, which involved four buses and two trains, lasted a combined five hours and 10 minutes.

“The way of the geography of the valleys is that people tend to travel up and down and not across,” said the MP, whose Senedd counterpart Lynne Neagle AM has also raised the issue.

“This demonstrates to me that the government needs to look at the assessment which they have described in the letter.

“The Welsh Government has been keen to push jobs out of Cardiff and into different localities.

“This policy of the DWP is diametrically opposed to that concept. North of Cardiff is a somewhat vague way of describing this as you can describe most of Wales as north of Cardiff.”

Mr Thomas-Symonds added that he will be inviting the employment minister to join him on the route to Treforest, and raised the issues facing those with caring responsibilities like Miss Cousins, 31.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) representative for the Pension Centre in Cwmbran, said: “As a single mother who currently works part-time the proposed move just isn’t feasible.

“The journey we took was not an easy one. There was a lot of waiting around between buses and trains and on some occasions there wasn’t suitable seating.

“Not to mention the distance to walk between the site and either the nearest bust stop of train station. The train station was accessible only by steps.

“These issues will all be a problem for anybody with any mobility issues and health conditions.

“I currently manage my work commitment with the help of my family to do school pick-ups on the occasions I cannot make it.

“This will not possible after the move as they have their own families and I couldn’t expect them to give the extra time that will be required after the move.

“With the added journey time I would need to reduce my working hours by around 50 per cent.

“There is also the added worry of being so far away from my children should there be an emergency.

“As well as the extra travel costs incurred, with reduced earnings due to working less hours I will be substantially worse off financially

“I am extremely concerned about the plans to relocate the office and what those plans will mean to not only me but also as a representative of PCS union what they will mean to our members.

“I think it would be a good idea for the minister to see how the transport system works in Wales.”

Katrine Williams, the chair of PCS Wales, said: “We understand that the final contract for the proposed new office has not yet been signed and are taking this opportunity to persuade the department to rethink its plans.

“All of the other DWP hubs are in city centre locations and much easier to get to by public transport but the plans for Wales plans are going to cause enormous problems.

“There is a real risk of redundancy as many of our members will be unable to travel to the potential new location as too far to do on a daily basis.

“DWP delivers benefits and support for pensions from just 10 sites across the UK so a major impact on one of these sites losing experienced staff would have a massive effect on the services our members deliver to pensioners.”

“That’s why we want management to rethink their proposals and retain the existing sites, all of which are very cost effective sites and provide valuable local jobs and services to the public.

“The Treforest site has very limited car-parking in the design, with spaces for fewer than 10 per cent of the 1,700 staff who work in the five current sites that the DWP wants to centralise.

“As an industrial estate, it has very limited parking alternatives and the nearest railway station is a good 20 minutes’ walk away, even if you are fit and healthy.

“We also have working hours of 8am to 6.30pm so for a lot of the year, staff will be walking through a deserted industrial estate in the dark.”

A DWP spokeswoman said: “Our modernisation programme is about improving the services we deliver, while making best use of taxpayers’ money.

“The fact is that our sites in Sovereign House, Newport and Glyndwr House, Cwmbran are operating at half capacity.

“We’re finalising arrangements for a replacement shared space in Treforest.”

She added that Newport will not be affected until 2021, while Cwmbran’s lease has another five years to run and neither jobcentre in the two areas are proposed to stay open.