Public backs post offices for payments.
Public backs post offices for payments.
From WESTERN DAILY PRESS, April 6th, 2001
By By Matthew George
THE vast majority of people who get their pensions and benefits in cash at
their local post office want to carry on doing so when the payment system
changes in 2003, a new survey has found. The MORI poll, commissioned by the National Federation of SubPostmasters,
discovered an overwhelming 95 per cent of customers backed the post office
network. The findings reflect the huge level of support given to the Western Daily Press
Don’t Stamp Out Our Post Offices campaign, when a petition was signed by well
over three million people. NFSP general secretary Colin Baker said: “The survey shows that the
overwhelming majority of recipients who currently choose to go to post offices
for pensions and benefits in cash don’t want to change. “It includes the Prime Minister’s own constituents in Sedgefield, one of the
areas polled by MORI. “Although many post office customers already have a bank account, the survey
shows that the majority want to be able to use a post office-based bank
account for pension and benefit payments in cash after 2003 – not their
existing current account.” The Press campaign was triggered by a Government decision to scrap the current
paper-based benefits system from 2003. Thousands of struggling outlets in rural areas and on inner city estates were
threatened with losing vital income, with Ministers intent on saving money by
switching to Automated Credit Transfer (ACT) directly into bank accounts. Following the campaign, the Government agreed to pursue one of its major
demands, for a universal or people’s bank, based at post offices, to allow
pensions and benefits to be collected in cash. Mr Baker called on Ministers to honour their pledge and guarantee the right of
every post office customer to get a post office-based account from 2003. “We have always said customers have the right to choose, ” he said. “If the
Government confirms that our customers will have the right to automatic access
– without opening a new account – to a post officebased account, there is no
doubt the overwhelming majority of post office customers will choose to stay
with their post office.” A spokesman for the Post Office said: “We welcome the findings of this survey that shows the vast majority of the
people who collect pensions and benefits in cash at their local post office
branch wish to continue to do so after 2003.”
EDITION: WP Late City
PAGE: 19
SECTION: NewsWESTERN DAILY PRESS, 06th April 2001
