The public sector union NIPSA condemned Stormont proposals to centralise SSA services across the Province.

It believes that 200 jobs are under threat because of the changes.

The Department of Social Development has rejected the claim and SSA chief executive Bryan Davis insisted no jobs will go.

Nevertheless, the restructuring will affect 1,050 staff.

The functions of the 35 Social Security offices in Northern Ireland are to be condensed into 18 benefits processing centres.

Nearly all staff will be moved to these offices, where the administration will be based, with the remaining 17 sites only maintaining front offices as a point of contact.

It will mean staff – the majority of whom are female – will be shifted from their present locations to offices in other towns.

DSD views the moves as part of an efficiency drive which will create a better service delivery.

NIPSA argues it will actually dilute the service.

The union’s general secretary, John Corey, said: “At a time when the Executive ministers need to be ensuring that all the current Social Security office services remain fully available to people in need of assistance, the SSA is proposing major changes which will cut local services and offer less staff at the front line to help people in need.”

NIPSA’s Maria Morgan added: “Staff fear that as part of 850 compulsory transfers they will be forced to work up to 60 miles away from their current workplace, while the reduction in front office provision will result in a dilution of this vital service.”

Mr Corey called on DSD Minister Margaret Ritchie to suspend the whole review process.

He said so much reorganisation, at time when the SSA is about to come under immense pressure, was a recipe for disaster.

And he was critical of the agency initiating a consultation period on the plans over the Christmas period – which limited the time for responses.

Bryan Davis explained the reasoning for restructuring.

He said: “The main components of our local office service delivery model have remained unchanged for some years.

“Meanwhile the staffing levels in many offices have reduced, leaving our staff too thinly spread to provide responsive customer service.

“What we propose is to modernise the service delivery and consolidate many of our staff into bigger teams.”

The main changes, he added, involve centralising the back-office staff, enhancing telephone services (including low/fixed rate calls) and extending the appointment system in a bid to better manage higher caller traffic and reduce waiting times for customers.