16 June 2008
Ministers have been accused of forcing pensioners to open bank accounts in order to keep their state pensions, according to a pensioners umbrella group.
Some 400,000 over-60s are still able to receive their state pension payment through a giro cheque that can be cashed at their local post office. However, according to the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), this arrangement could be withdrawn in as little as two years.
The NPC says it has learnt that letters are being sent to these pensioners telling them that the giro cheques are being withdrawn in 2010 and that they will have to have their pension paid directly into a bank account.
The organisation says that the move will seriously restrict the ability of pensioners to manage their day-to-day financial affairs - as well as undermining the viability of hundreds of post office branches.
Dot Gibson, NPC, vice president, said: "For many older people, the cheque payment enables them to easily get a friend or neighbour to collect their pension on their behalf. It's a flexible approach that helps those who may not always be able to get to the post office in person.
"Lots of older people don't have, don't want or cannot open a bank account - but they want to keep using their post office to collect their pension.
"It's outrageous that the government is now making it difficult for pensioners to get at their own money. The decision to withdraw the cheque payment is yet another attack on both the pensioner and the post office."
In 2006, James Plaskitt MP, Department for Work and Pensions minister, told the House of Commons that any individual refusing to receive pension payments by the direct payment method were entitled to be paid by cheque.
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