Jobcentre Plus is located on the Ringway Pic: Google alo

Preston’s Job Centre on the corner of Friargate and the Ringway is to close.

The Department for Work and Pensions has unveiled a list of 78 JobCentre Plus offices which are to be merged with other centres or offices.

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The Preston centre, which is next door to Wetherspoons in Preston city centre, is on the list to be shut.

Two other DWP offices in Preston at Barry House in London Road and Holborn House in Caxton Road are also to be closed.

The move to close the locations across the UK is expected to save the government around £180million a year.

Jobs are expected to be at risk with the closures – with around 750 jobs nationwide expected to be lost.

The DWP says four out of five jobseekers now claim their allowance online and 99 per cent of those claiming Universal Credit do so online.

Employment Minister Damian Hinds told the Mirror: “Where we are proposing closing a site we will take all possible precautions to minimise disruption for claimants, and vulnerable people will receive home visits and postal claims.”

There is no timescale for when the Preston Job Centre is to close and it is expected to move into Duchy House in Lancaster Road, an existing DWP office.

DWP is said to be exploring co-locating services with councils in many areas where they are closing Job Centres.

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