HUNDREDS of Winchester and Southampton jobs are set to be lost after a Government agency announced office closures.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs has confirmed it is to shut offices in both cities as part of a national shake-up.

Across the Southampton-Winchester-Portsmouth area, the HMRC says job numbers will shrink from around 1,700 to 1,400 by the time the review is complete in 2011.

But the Public and Commercial Services Union says that at the retained offices in Winchester and Southampton, the drop will be around 600 people, from 1,065 to 550. A number of these jobs are set to relocate to Portsmouth.

Offices to close by March 2011 are: 8 Ogle Road, Southampton; Cromwell House, Andover Road, Winchester; Queens Keep, Cumberland Place, Southampton; and Portcullis House, Southampton.

None are expected to be fully vacated before 2008, but some staff may move beforehand, said a HMRC spokesman.

An enquiry centre will be retained in Winchester but will employ a small number of staff.

Major sites to be kept are: Compass House, Romsey Road, Maybush, Southampton, one at Newport on the Isle of Wight, and three in Portsmouth.

A HMRC spokeswoman said: "We will be speaking to each individual member of staff to see if we can satisfy their needs when it comes to redeploying them."

Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "Staff fear that this announcement will lead to de facto job losses with skilled and experienced staff forced out through unpractical redeployment options."

A spokesman added: "Things are very uncertain.

"A lot of jobs are going to shift. There will be job losses but it is still a question of how many and how many will be compulsory. "We would like guarantees there won't be any compulsory redundancies."

HMRC was created in 2005 following the merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise.