HUNDREDS of workers in Southampton will be uprooted as HM Revenue and Customs plans to close offices across the country.

The HMRC office in Southampton, which currently employs around 365 people, has been earmarked to close as early as 2019 and two offices in Portsmouth are shutting between 2018 and 2026.

When the Southampton office closes, employees will be moved to the Lynx House office in Portsmouth, until that closes in the financial year of 2025/26.

They will then have to work from one of 13 regional offices that will be set up across the UK, the closest being in Croydon and Stratford.

The move comes as HMRC plans to close 137 offices under a decade-long modernisation programme.

There are currently around 58,000 HMRC employees in 170 offices across the country, ranging in size from 6,000 staff to fewer than 10.

HMRC says it expects between 5,000 and 5,300 full-time equivalent employees will work in the Stratford regional centre and 2,500 to 2,800 full-time equivalent employees in the Croydon regional centre as the majority of its existing offices in London, the south east and the east of England will close by 2020-21.

The government body said that if employees are unable to work from a regional office, it will do everything it reasonably can to help them to find new roles, in an effort to reduce redundancies.

These roles may be elsewhere in the civil service or outside of it.

Lin Homer, HMRC’s chief executive, said: “HMRC is committed to modern, regional centres serving every region and nation in the UK, with skilled and varied jobs and development opportunities, while also ensuring jobs are spread throughout the UK and not concentrated in the capital.

“HMRC has too many expensive, isolated and out-dated offices. This makes it difficult for us to collaborate, modernise our ways of working, and make the changes we need to transform our service to customers and clamp down further on the minority who try to cheat the system.

“The new regional centres in Stratford and Croydon will bring our staff together in more modern and cost-effective buildings in areas with lower rents.“They will also make a big contribution to the economy of the region providing high-quality, skilled jobs and supporting the Government’s commitment to a national recovery that benefits all parts of the UK.”

But the announcement has sparked fears over how effective HMRC will be with the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union saying the cuts would pose a ‘’significant threat’’ to its operations as well as to the working lives of staff.

General secretary Mark Serwotka said: ‘’No one should be in any doubt that, if implemented, these proposals would be absolutely devastating for HMRC and the people who work there.

"Closing this many offices would pose a significant threat to the operation of HMRC, its service to the public and the working lives of staff, and the need for parliamentary scrutiny of the plans is undeniable and urgent.’’ HMRC said its modernisation programme includes investment in new online and other services to make it easier for people to pay their tax.