Warm Welcome For Post Office Pensions' Deal

There was cross-party agreement in Northern Ireland this week to welcome the news of Royal Mail's success in retaining the benefit's payment system for its Post Office outlets.

Robin Newton, the East Belfast DUP MLA, (pictured) welcomed Royal Mail's winning the contract to handle pensions and benefits payments.

Robin Newton said: "There was great concern throughout the UK about the potential for another swathe of Post Office closures if the Government had not awarded the contract for pension payouts to Post Office Card Account.

"This accounts for a substantial amount of the income of any individual post office and a failure to win this contract would at the very least have damaged the survival prospects - or could even have led to the closure of up to 3,000 UK urban and rural Post Offices, many of which could have been in Northern Ireland," he said.

He noted that for the many elderly people - already seriously disadvantaged by earlier closures - this could have been a further blow.

"A post office is important to the life of a community. The decision to award the contract to Royal Mail will see senior citizens able to continue to collect their pensions in the friendly and convenient environments they have become previously enjoyed."

Meanwhile, the Sinn Féin Mayor of Limavady - who is also a local postmistress - warmly welcomed the decision by the Department of Work and Pensions to issue the contract to allow Post Offices to receive and dispense people's pensions and benefits.

Brenda Chivers said: "The announcement is a positive one and one that will be well received.

"It will allow a greater amount of access for people on benefits and pensions to access those benefits in a convenient and practical way," she said, noting that, for many people - especially older people - the post office provides a community-based, local focal point for these transactions.

She also said this will aid the sustainability of many post offices, especially those in rural areas providing an essential service that many in the community will avail of therefore aiding local employment.

"These factors of course are to be welcomed but to ensure the continued survival of many of these local post offices more services need to be offered.

"This is the only way to guarantee the future of what many in the community see as a valuable service."

See: £1bn Post Office Contract Welcomed

(BMcC)