Donovan slams MPs attack on UK Postwatch as ‘nonsense’
Postwatch North chairman and industry stalwart Judith Donovan has hit back at a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report which claims the watchdog is “feeble”, branding the findings “nonsense”.
The PAC, made up of MPs, this week published its report into Postwatch and Energywatch, highlighting that huge numbers of complaints relating to lost mail and wrong energy bills are still flooding in, five years after the groups were established.
Committee chairman Edward Leigh says: “The two bodies… are performing feebly. Neither has got out there to find out more about consumer needs and difficulties.”
He adds that neither has served the needs of older groups, low-income families, or gained grass-roots support.
But Donovan counters: “It makes you wonder if it’s writing about the same organisation. To say we don’t have grass-roots support is nonsense. We’ve got nine regional offices. You couldn’t get more grass- roots than that.
“As for a rise in complaints, we’re very disappointed that the committee hasn’t remembered our briefing last January. Of course we’ve had more complaints. At that time Royal Mail was falling apart.”
She continues: “The committee has also failed to recognise our work in getting Royal Mail to revise its pricing in proportion scheme.”
The report also cites a lack of consumer awareness of Postwatch. Donovan says: “We rely on Royal Mail to promote us. We used to have posters in post offices, but they were taken down two years ago. We also had our contact details on the letters sent in response to consumer complaints. These are now handled by telephone.
“Not only is this report unfair, it’s also untrue.”
