ACCESS to tax advice in County Durham and Darlington will be damaged by confirmation that Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is to close two offices, it was claimed last night.

Twenty-six staff at the offices now face an uncertain future after HMRC confirmed it was going ahead with plans to close 130 offices, including four in the North-East.

They include Darlington, employing six, and Bishop Auckland, employing 19. The other North-East offices affected are Hexham and Alnwick, in Northumberland, which employ a total of 19.

HMRC said that by bringing staff together in larger teams and closing smaller offices it would be able to deliver a better service to customers.

But the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union warned that up to 1,700 jobs could go and services to the public and businesses would suffer.

Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “It is no coincidence that, as HMRC staff have been cut, the amount of uncollected tax written off as doubtful has nearly doubled.

“There is more than £130bn which is uncollected, evaded and avoided which could go towards closing the public deficit.

“Access to tax advice across the UK will be damaged by the confirmation of these closures, which will hit businesses and the public, as well as taking jobs out of communities during a recession.”