A UNION has claimed that a government office has offered overtime to staff and is even considering taking on more people just days after ten workers were made compulsorily redundant.

Counter staff at Newport Passport Office are allegedly being encouraged to come in on their days off, according to the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union.

Ten staff at the office were made compulsorily redundant on Monday, following a programme of cuts at the office which reduced numbers at the 300-strong workplace by half, with many of the staff taking voluntary redundancy.

Jessica Morden, MP for Newport East, called the news an “absolute shambles”, but the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), which runs the office, said the overtime is being offered to deal with the peak in demand over the summer.

As well as the overtime, the union claims two middle-management positions are being advertised after 20 staff at the same level were made redundant, while management is said to be considering taking on an unspecified number of additional staff.

The decision to slash jobs came last year after a campaign by the Argus and others to stop the office being shut entirely. More than 26,000 people signed a petition against the proposal.

PCS had previously argued that there was work that could have been done by the ten who were made redundant, with overtime being offered at other sites.

Paul McGoay, PCS Home Office group officer, said: “It is outrageous that management should be encouraging staff to work overtime when they have just halved the workforce in Newport, including making ten compulsory redundancies.”

Staff are to be picketed to discourage them from working overtime on Saturday morning.

Anne-Louise McKeon- Williams, branch secretary for PCS at the office, said: “There’s so much backlog in the system and so many complaints, they haven’t got all the staff to complete the work.”

Staff across the Home Office are currently being balloted for industrial action by the union.

Ms Morden said: “It’s an absolute shambles. This shows the demand for the service is clearly there and no staff should have lost their jobs.”

An IPS spokesman said the service is offering overtime at Newport and other passport offices for a limited period to deal with summer peak demand for passports.

“Overtime is a legitimate management action and prevents us from being overstaffed outside peak season,”

he said.