Michelle doesnt like it, but I know many of the staff who are now over the moon that they are going to get their redundancy. This has been coming for some time. It was coming long before the elections in may 2010.
As more and more services move to the internet, the residuals can move to the post office.

That isnt to denigrate the staff in any way, but they know as well as everyone else that the time spent twiddling thumbs is not worth it.

It is always sad to see people lose their jobs, but the only cork popping will be amongst the staff at DVLA who have been offered generous packages (and rightly so).

How can Swansea deal with everything. What about when you need to change the Taxation class? For this you have to go into an office. How can someone up north travel to Swansea. It is already a great distance for people in the Borders to go to Carlise or Edinurgh but it is impossible to travel any further. David Cameron thinks everyone has access to the internet, or likes using automated 'phones. Wake up David & become part of the real world.Carlise Office is so easy to find & park that we use this office instead of the edinburgh Office, which is a nightmare to get to.More & more people are loosing their jobs & I would have thought this Government would be trying to save as many as they can & not just keep adding to unemployment.Especially in areas where jobs are very limited. I notice that if any cuts are to be made by this Government & the last, it is never down South or around London but in the North, causing more hardship for the people who are already struggling to make ends meet.Politicians have no idea what its like for ordinary people, either that or they just donot care.
They do not care in the least what the public wants, even thoug we all pay their huge wages.Shame on David Cameron & his pals.He is likely to loose a lot of his voters if he carries on causeing hardship to so many. Enoy your term in office as I doubt you will get another.You have no idea of what its like to struggle to survive, but who know what the future holds for any of us.

i have worked at glasgow local office for a long time its has one of the biggest turnaround of customers in the uk we help people the post office cant deal with tax class changes imported vehicle's specialist services checking passports for exchange driving licences HGV taxing HGV and tacko card licences the list goes on and on on too the point of taxing vehicle's on line every day a stream of people who thought it a good idea to tax online HAVE to come in to collect tax disc that guess what never arrived ? ,,, as for pay rates i earn just over 18.000 a year after 20 odd years of service redundancy going to be capped at 20 yrs its not a lot and the reason they closed offices early wee were getting told we had definitely lost our JOBS

I must say, it puzzles and slightly angers me when we have so many people here who actually want people to lose their jobs and a service to be lost.......and with no obvious significant benefit to be gained from it, other then the Government telling us that they'll save a few million pounds (about 2,000 times less money than 1 single bank - RBS - was bailed out for).

Best of luck to Michelle Muir et al in finding another job. I'm pretty sure that, in the present climate, once the government has decided to close an office then it will go ahead and do it - especially if they have the backing of people like some of those who have posted on here!

Clearly some commenting here have their own, hidden, agendas. I can only speak as I have found, having used the office on two occasions when Post Offices couldn't, the service has been faultless. Good luck to all the staff, but you can't underestimate Tory dogma, look how manipulative it is in turning working class people against one another while it shafts all of us.

Typical shop steward arrogance in your response Michelle. Your lovely photos of your protest day show the majority of people yourself laughing, joking and generally having a good old time. I'm sure if it was my livelihood & pension at stake, at least i'd manage to look serious. laughable!

@Tony - Since you are very keen to question Michelle's statistics, let me question yours: The majority of those outside the public sector are against public sector industrial action? Where is that statistic drawn from, Tony? I suggest it is not really a statistic so much as an assumption derived from reading too many Daily Mail rants about 'hard working taxpayers'. I can assure you that, outside 'Mail Land', there are many people who see what this government is about and who applaud public sector workers in their fight against ideologically driven cuts.

In response to mention of post office perhap's the one or is it two staffed service level at Carlisle's Main Post office counter in WHSmith be improved. In another town centre post office a queue can stretch into the street! The bank nearby recording say's "Next Customer please..." to a non-existent queue with three staff. Both organisations recently posted a considerable profit. I went to busy Keswick, parking for two hours and surprised with one shop posting signage closed for lunch. Is it any wonder folks are turning to the world wide web with such reported poor customer service's. Next day parcel delivery. Terrific! New Passport Queue....

Easy arguments are always the best Michelle. Perhaps you can enlighten us on how many of these alleged 76 services will still not be offered on-line in 18 months when the office closes? By not disclosing this, you are misleading the public with your rhetoric. How about letting us know the frequency you perform these 76 transactions? I'll wager there are some extremely infrequent ones thrown in for statistics sake.
The protests that hold the country to ransom are only good for the people who support you, how many do not? The answer to this is the majority of those outside the public sector who are contributing to your pension as well as their own. Thanks for that!

@Michelle - Keep up the fight - I sincerely hope you win. It is utterly depressing to see posters on here celebrating the loss of local services and local jobs.