FARNWORTH Job Centre is slated to close in the autumn, the government has confirmed.

The centre,in King Street, had been expected to shut next year. But the Department of Work and Pensions said it would now merge with either the Blackhorse Street or Great Moor Street centres before before the end of 2017.

The Farnworth office is one of 68 smaller Job Centre’s moving into larger or underused ones or being co-located with local government premises.

The government said the plan would deliver a ‘more efficient and modern employment service’.