Jobcentres: Temperature
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) Jobcentres and other public-facing sites (i) reduced opening hours and (ii) closed and (b) appointments were (A) cancelled and (B) moved to remote provision during the week commencing 22 June 2026 due to hot weather.
Answered by Dame Diana Johnson
Throughout the recent red weather extreme heat warning period (w/c 22nd June), there were a number of Jobcentre closures per day due to heat.
- 24/06/26 – 236
- 25/06/26 – 219
- 26/06/26 – 111
- 27/06/26 – 7
In addition, over the 4 days we also saw 21 sites open but with reduced hours.
DWP follow Met Office alerts for all weather warnings, supplemented by UK Health Security Agency advice. The Met Office red warning advice was: ‘These warnings are reserved for very dangerous weather with a high level of certainty. You should take direct action to keep yourself and others safe from impacts of the weather. It’s likely there will be a risk to life, as well as substantial disruption to travel and infrastructure.’
For Met Office red weather warnings for extreme heat, DWP closes all public facing sites within those areas, to help protect the elderly, the vulnerable, and disabled people from having to travel in extreme heat. This in turn helps reduce pressure on the emergency services.
During a period of extreme heat, DWP are able to move most face-to-face appointments to digital methods or telephone calls. Where this is not possible, appointments would be rescheduled rather than cancelled.
DWP do not record the host location for each individual appointment, so unable to provide this detail.
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