Tag: Postwatch

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. 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.”

Post and energy watchdogs were blasted by MPs today for performing “feebly” in protecting consumers despite spiralling costs to the taxpayer. The Public Accounts Committee said despite being set up five years ago, Energywatch and Postwatch had failed to stem the tide of complaints about services. It said the bodies should quit expensive London headquarters as part of a cost-cutting drive and make far more efforts to ensure the public were aware of the help available. Designed as consumer champions, they have handled more than 300,000 complaints about issues such as lost mail, post office closures, wrong energy bills and aggressive sales tactics and won compensation for some users. But today’s report said the watchdogs’ overall record had been “unimpressive” with complaints about post services rising every year and those about energy not being reduced. Less than three quarters of consumers were satisfied with the service they got from Postwatch.

Secretary of State for Trade & Industry, Alan Johnson, has appointed Urmila Banerjee as the new National Chair of The Consumer Council for Postal Services.
Urmila (Millie) Banerjee CBE is a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the communications regulator Ofcom and a Member of the Strategy Board of the Cabinet Office. She will take up her post as Postwatch Chair on 1 December 2005.
Welcoming her appointment Alan Johnson said: “I am delighted that Urmila Banerjee has agreed to be the new Postwatch Chair. She brings considerable experience to the role at a time of significant change within postal services and consumer representation. I am sure she will make a valuable contribution in shaping the strategic direction of Postwatch and their ongoing work in support of postal users.” The Secretary of State also paid tribute to the outgoing Chair, Peter Carr.

Presentation at The Mail Show 05 by Gregor McGregor Postwatch

P:LibraryUK The Mail Show 05gregor_mcgreggor.PPT