THE opening hours of Okehampton Jobcentre Plus will be cut to just one day a week from the beginning of next month. Jobseekers and benefit claimants looking to make use of the facility in Fore Street will now have to do so on a Wednesday. From the week beginning March 6, the office will open for just six hours a week, having previously been open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The new office opening hours will be 9.30am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-4.30pm, while benefit enquiries can be made from 9.30am to noon and 1.30pm to 4pm only. A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said Okehampton was too small to support all the specialist advisory services for the unemployed, but would continue to offer job search and some tailored advisory support from the Okehampton office. The spokesperson said: ?The way Jobcentre Plus services are delivered in Devon and Cornwall is changing.? She said increasingly people were using the internet and telephone services to access job information. She said the DWP was coming to the end of a four-year period of transformation in employment services and having reviewed the way in which it delivered those services in its Jobcentre Plus offices, the decision had been made to reduce opening hours in Okehampton. She said: ?This is because Okehampton is too small to support all the specialist advisory services we wish to provide for those who need most help in getting back to work. ?These specialist advisory services will be delivered from surrounding Jobcentre Plus offices, but we will continue to deliver job search activity for jobseekers and some tailored advisory support for individuals from the Okehampton office.? The Jobcentre was saved on a part-time basis four years ago when the facility was threatened with closure, following a campaign led by former MP John Burnett. To find out about the latest vacancies call the Jobseeker Direct telephone service on 0845 6060234 or visit the website at http://www.jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk">www.jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk where more than 300,000 vacancies are listed each week. Employers can call 0845 6012001 to take advantage of a dedicated service designed to support employers in filling their vacancies quickly and successfully. To make a claim for benefit, people are advised to call the First Contact Centre on 0845 6021036 or for a more general enquiry 01392 474700 for referral to the relevant department.
