Pensioners demand end to post office closures
Members of the National Pensioners Convention (NPC) will today stage a demonstration to draw attention to the effects of post office closures on the elderly.
It is concerned that plans to close up to 3000 urban branches (around half of which are already shut) will have a “devastating” impact on pensioners.
Today’s demonstration, at Post Office headquarters in London, is the latest in a series of autumn demonstrations, following on from a September rally in Parliament Square and appearances at the main party conferences.
With the elderly statistically more likely to vote than the young, politicians of all parties have been keen to present their policies as the most “grey friendly”. The NPC are hoping to capitalise on this awareness to gain support for their “Pensioners Manifesto”, which includes a raise in the basic state pension, free travel and the scrapping of council tax.
Speaking before Monday’s rally, Dot Gibson, secretary of the NPC Greater London region stressed her concerns that the closure of post office branches will increase the pressure on pensioners to have their pensions paid directly into a bank or building society account.
The NPC claims that over one million pensioners have so far resisted automatic pension payment. The automatic payments are being introduced by the Government both to save money and also combat the possibility of fraud. But, pensioners’ groups are unhappy with the push to automation.
Ms Gibson said: “Post Office Limited is closing local post offices throughout the capital and in towns all over the country. The effect on communities, particularly older and disabled people, is devastating and comes at the same time as the government is getting rid of our pension books.
“It appears there is a deliberate policy of handing over to the banks the business that is normally carried out by the post office and then saying that local branches are obsolete.”
Les Evans, chair of the London Older People’s Strategies Group, added: “In areas where post offices have already closed, people are queuing round the block and kept waiting because the remaining branches simply can’t cope with the workload. We’ve submitted a lengthy set of proposals in an effort to keep local post offices open, but Post Office Limited and the Government have their ears closed.”
