The closure of a city job centre has left residents as much as five miles away from the next nearest site. 

Hove job centre, in Boundary Road, will be decommissioned by the end of next month.

The centre has not been replaced, but rather its services have been merged with Brighton job centre, in Queen Square, which is three miles away.

As Hove job centre covers residents in Portslade and Hangleton, it means some will be as much as five miles away from the Queen Square centre. 

The Department for Work and Pensions said the merging of services “offers better value for money for the taxpayer”.

The "relocation", announced by the DWP in November last year, was set to avoid forecast repair work costs of £700,000 for the Hove job centre building.

Staff were transferred to the new site from March this year, but the site decommissioning is due to be complete by the end of July.

The DWP said that there will be “no impact on delivery of services”, because staff and current customer caseloads have been transferred to the new site.

It also cites "excellent public transport links" to the new site which "provides a better location for the delivery of services". 

A spokesman for the DWP said: "We are making changes to some of our Jobcentres, taking advantage of lease breaks and leaving older lower-quality buildings while taking advantage of opportunities presented from some of the temporary Jobcentres opened during the pandemic.

“In making this move, the Department has maintained a physical presence in Brighton, where it is committed to the face-to-face delivery of its services to the customers and communities that need them.”

When the closure was announced back in November, Peter Kyle, Labour MP for Hove and Portslade, said: “Closing Hove job centre - which covers Hove, Portslade and Hangleton, is a disgrace.

“I see the logic of avoiding a bill for renovation, but I decry the loss of a local service - a crucial local service - where people need support and help to turn their lives around. 

"This isn't about expecting people to travel five-miles to job hunt, I'm sure the residents in Mile Oak, for example, will do this. It's about fairness and local services.”