Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick MP, has confirmed that the government will bring at least 500 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government roles set to the West Midlands by 2025.

The new headquarters in the city will include the presence of ministers, making it the first such office outside of London with a regular ministerial presence. Senior civil servants will also be based in Wolverhampton, ensuring this becomes a centre for policy development and decision making rather than purely an administrative base.

This historic move signals a culture change in civil service to give a stronger voice to communities in the mission to level up opportunity and prosperity across the regions. This is a significant increase on the 300 roles currently in the region and is part of plans to have at least 800 roles outside of London by 2030 – including 50% of the most senior positions. This will ensure that more local voices are reflected in the creation of government policy.

These moves will help provide an economic boost to these areas, bring a greater variety of voices and experiences into the Civil Service and provide improved career paths outside of Whitehall. Recruitment is already underway, with 40 roles already relocated to the region in the last 12 months. A further increase in the number of roles is set to occur by 2030.

MHCLG will be working in partnership with other government departments to improve collaborative working and develop greater career options outside London. Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick said:

"As Communities Secretary, I am determined to spread opportunity and prosperity to every part of our nation. That is why I am delighted to be taking the historic step of moving significant numbers of senior roles out of Whitehall and creating the first ever ministerial office outside of Westminster in Wolverhampton – increasing the jobs in the Midlands to over 500.

"With a dual headquarters in Wolverhampton my department will not only change where we work but how we work, signalling the end of the Whitehall knows best approach. All of us at the department are looking forward to having the opportunity to work there.

"This government knows that by having more local voices at the heart of our policy development and delivery, we will support our communities more effectively, and we will continue to develop greater career options in government outside of London.

"In choosing the city of Wolverhampton we are also backing our great smaller cities, some of which have been neglected for too long. We want to raise their stature, encourage civic pride and commercial success."

It is expected that an announcement about the location for the new building will be made in the spring.