HMRC are to close 137 tax offices and replace them with 13 new regional centres over the next five years.

The first will open in 2016/17, with others following between 2017 and 2021. The centres will vary in size and in the mix of operational, tax professional and corporate services work that they contain. The smallest will hold 1,200 to 1,300 full-time equivalent members of staff and the largest, operationally-focused centres will hold more than 6,000.

HMRC expect most staff to be able to move from their current offices to a regional centre, and are phasing the moves over ten years to minimise redundancies. But the department will aim to have fewer staff in the future as …