Welcome for Government U-Turn on Post Office Card Accounts (Milton Keynes Liberal Democrats)

Milton Keynes Liberal Democrats <info@mk-libdems.co.uk>

Welcome for Government U-Turn on Post Office Card Accounts

November 17, 2008 9:33 PM

Liberal Democrats in Milton Keynes have welcomed a decision by the Government to abandon proposals to hand over the payment of pensions and benefits from post offices to a private company.

Thousands of older people, carers, disabled people and claimants in Milton Keynes currently use their local Post Offices to receive their pensions and benefits through Post Office Card Accounts.

But earlier this year ministers invited bids from private companies, as well as from the Post Office, for the contract to pay out pensions and benefits from 2010.

Had the Post Office lost the contract, up to 6,000 more post offices could have gone to the wall as a result of the lost business. These unmanaged closures would have been in addition to the 2,500 "managed"closures which the Government has already announced.

"The Government's U-turn is welcome here in MK," said Jill Hope, Lib Dem prospective parliamentary candidate for Milton Keynes North. "It means the local Post Offices which did escape the recent round of closures have a chance of staying open.

"But this is a U-turn that should never have had to happened in the first place. The Government should have realised the importance of post offices to communities and awarded the new contract to the Post Office network without these months of delay.

"Instead, local branches have had to deal with the uncertainty that ministerial dithering and this unnecessary contracting process have caused. Hopefully, local branches can now plan ahead, knowing they will continue to pay out pensions and benefits.

"But we are also calling on the Government to carry out another U-turn. They must stop putting pressure on pensioners and benefit claimants to get their cash paid through banks. People should have a choice. Many older people have never had a bank account and don't feel able to cope with all the form-filling and pin numbers. They simply want to continue to get their cash from their local post office as they have always done."