Foreign Office to quit East Kilbride for Glasgow

Staff will be moved out of Abercrombie House after 2025

The UK foreign office is to leave East Kilbride for a new home in Glasgow within the next three years.

Staff at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) site in South Lanarkshire were told about the move last week.

It is thought around 1,000 staff will be shifted out of Abercrombie House "after 2025" to an as-yet unconfirmed location in the city centre.

HMRC will move into the building from Queensway House following their departure.

An FCDO spokesperson said there were no planned job losses, adding the move would "widen the department's future talent pool".

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said its members were given just an hour's notice of the decision before it was announced on 7 December.

It said the move was "welcomed" by some members who would prefer to be based in Glasgow, though others based outside the city raised "considerable concerns".

A statement read: "Whilst FCDO have made some positive soundings about the potential for excess fares, and given an assurance that there will not be compulsory redundancies as a result of the move, many staff are rightly worried about the impact on their ability to regularly commute to the new location.

"We have already asked for the Equality Impact Assessment for the move and will request sight of a postcode analysis of employees to explore the issues further.

"We will continue to follow up the concerns and issues that we have already raised, and will consult members through members' meetings on any proposals presented to us."

'Modern building'

Abercrombie House was opened by Lord Carrington in 1981 as part of an expansion of the Overseas Development Administration.

It later became the Department for International Development’s joint HQ before merging with the FCDO in 2020.

The department is due to redeploy 500 additional staff to Scotland by 2025.

No current site has been chosen for its new home, but an FCDO spokesperson said it would be a "modern building".

They added: “The FCDO is growing its presence and number of staff in Scotland.

“HMRC will be moving into Abercrombie House, which is a building that is already part of the UK Government estate, providing better value for money to the taxpayer and which will continue to boost the economy of East Kilbride.

"HMRC is still at the early stages of plans for the building and hopes to confirm timelines in the spring.”

Council Leader Joe Fagan said: “I am frankly astounded by the announcement on the FCDO – both the decision itself and the way it has been made.

“These staff have been working, and in many cases living, in East Kilbride for decades and are important contributors to our local community and economy.

“The FCDO announcement has been made out of the blue, suggesting not just a failure of communication but also a lack of coherence in their decision-making process. The reasons given for the decision are also weak, to say the least.

“We call for urgent further discussions on this situation.”

SNP MSP for East Kilbride, Collette Stevenson added: “After promising more jobs would come to East Kilbride, the Westminster government's decision to axe around 1000 jobs is a hammer-blow to our town and local economy.

“I have requested an urgent meeting to challenge this decision in the strongest possible terms and campaign for a reversal."

However, the Scottish Conservatives were critical of SNP claims that the jobs were being “axed”.

Murdo Fraser MSP said SNP politicians were “making fools of themselves” by claiming the FCDO jobs were “leaving Scotland when they are moving to Glasgow".