Richard Baum

The issue of the future of local Post Offices was in the news again yesterday, and particularly the future of Post Office Card accounts.

Thousands of Bury residents could lose their card accounts and many more local Post Offices could close if Government plans to scrap the Post Office Card Account go ahead.

Lib Dems in parliament have proposed an Early Day Motion calling for the government to increase the amount of government services accessible through Post Offices, and to award the new contract for providing the Post Office Card Account to the Post Office itself, rather than change the situation and award it to another organisation.

The Card Account is used for paying pensions and benefits to over 4 million people, and is a big money-earner for Post Offices, as well as offering a unique service to card holders, many of whom do not have bank accounts, and value its ‘instant cash’ access to their pensions.

There are currently thousands of card account users across Bury. Many would not be eligible for a full bank account, or have mobility problems that made access difficult. The loss of the POCA service would cost local Post Offices dearly – equivalent to a 50% increase in their business rate.

Across the country it would lead to 3,000 more closures, on top of the closures that have already happened and that are proposed.

I firmly believe that we should be attempting to make more services available through the Post Office, such as car tax and TV licenses, to help keep remaining branches open and profitable to run.

The government has the chance to do their bit with the POCA, and to recognise the inherent value to communities of a Post Office service. We’ve lost half the Post Offices in Bury since 1997, with more closures proposed.

It’s why local Lib Dems have been fighting the closures. We could easily lose more if POCA is switched to another provider.

It is clear that some inside the government support our views – Lord Mandelson has written a letter urging the Government to do more to support the Post Office network by letting it provide government services and financial products, and the Government’s majority was slashed to just 38 in the vote at the end of a recent debate on this issue. But the continuing policy of running down the Post Office network continues, and shows just how out of step the government are on this issue.

Rick