Revenue & Customs is set to close 94 offices across the country as part of an efficiency drive, potentially putting up to 3,400 jobs at risk. The Public and Commercial Services Union condemned the move, announced by Treasury minister Stephen Timms today, saying it would be 'bad for business, the public and the taxpayer and would lead to the loss of valuable skills and expertise'. Baker Tilly's head of tax George Bull described the closures as 'devastating for Revenue staff' and 'a significant blow to businesses and individual taxpayers who already see long delays in processing tax refunds and receiving satisfactory replies to simple questions'. But a spokesman for the Revenue said predictions of job cuts were 'pure scare-mongering'. 'We have not announced any job cuts today,' he said. 'What we have announced today is the last in a series of decisions in the Revenue's regional review of office structure.' Offices scheduled to close will be vacated on a phased basis, starting in spring 2009. Since the merger of the Inland Revenue with Customs & Excise in 2005, staff numbers have reduced by around 17,000 from 105,000 as part of the department's strategy to increase efficiency by 5% year on year up to 2011. A Revenue statement said the department had 'achieved all staff reductions and efficiency targets without compulsory redundancies and it remains our intention to avoid them wherever reasonably possible'.