Paganhill Post Office reopens - sign national petition

The post office in the old One Stop store has now moved to new premises tucked away around the back.

The whole process about how Tesco threw the post office out of the store is just not right in my view. See my 20th May Blog for details and more on this.

I have very grave concerns that if more action is not taken we could well lose this new post office. I am not alone: locally various organisations have expressed concerns and this concern about our local post offices is matched nationally. In recent weeks I have been collecting signatures for the petition organised by the National Federation of SubPostmasters - this petition calls upon the Government to reverse its decision to end support for the Post Office Card Account.

All 14,500 Post Offices in the UK have received copies of the petition, which is available for customers to sign to add their voice to the Federation’s campaign against the Government’s decision to axe POCA. Sign there, catch me or download your own petition to collect signatures at:
http://www.nfsp.org.uk/Petition.asp.asp

Used by 4.3 million people, the POCA is the only Post Office based option for the receipt of state pension and benefits. The Federation believes that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is already phasing out the card account ahead of its planned withdrawal in 2010, denying customers a choice in how they access their benefit payments and forcing them to receive them through a bank account, which for many is unsuitable.

It seems clear if the card account is withdrawn it will force the closure of thousands of Post Offices across the country, which in turn will undermine communities across Britain and adversely affect the wellbeing of many individuals, particularly those in vulnerable or finanically excluded groups.

The campaign which will run until the end of the year, is backed by the Mail on Sunday, by Parliament’s All Party Group for Sub Post Offices, and by organisations including the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, Help The Aged and the National Pensioners Convention.


In Parliament there is an Early Day Motion (EDM 1531) on the abolition of the Post Office Card Account that has attracted cross-party support and has now risen to 363 MPs including David Drew. It is time the Government recognised how much communities value and need local services.