125 civil service jobs announced for Derry

The £7 million contract will see the people employed locally delivering Universal Credit services to claimants in Britain.

The posts will be based at the Lisahally Service Centre in Derry.

A spokesperson for the Department for Communities said: “This is good news for DfC and for Northern Ireland, bringing to 594 the number of new jobs secured by the Department over the past year to deliver DWP services.

“This third major contract for DfC is testament to the continued confidence DWP has in our capacity to provide high quality services for customers in Great Britain.”

While some of the posts will be filled in the first instance through internal redeployment, it is expected that a “large proportion” of the posts will be filled through external recruitment, the Department said.

The contract is for an initial two year period worth just over £3.5 million per annum and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2017.

It follows previous DWP contracts announced in September and December 2016, worth a combined £20 million.

The Department for Communities currently employs around 1,900 staff providing services to claimants in Great Britain on behalf of DWP.