This week the Rt. Hon Steve Webb MP Minister of State for Work and Pensions made a statement in the House of Commons outlining the Government’s plans to help to safeguard the future of the Post Office network by agreeing a seven year contract to extend the life of their Post Office Card Accounts until 2021.
The Post Office Card Account is currently the banking arrangement of choice for many people receiving benefits and tax credits, including over 1.3 million pensioners. Under the new agreement, which represents an investment £250 million, the Post Office will be supported as well as streamlined and made more efficient in order to benefit the maximum number of people.
Welcoming the announcement, Heather Wheeler MP said: “I first began campaigning to protect these accounts in March 2010 before I became the MP for South Derbyshire, and have been having conversations with my Ministerial colleagues ever since.
“Post Office Card Accounts are vital to those who cannot access other banking facilities for many different reasons. Through this contract, the Government has preserved banking access for over 2.5 million people who currently use the service. I am absolutely delighted that we have been successful with this campaign” finished Mrs Wheeler.
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