News story

24th April 2002

Prime Minister Challenged In Commons Over Local Widow's Pension

The Prime Minister was today (Wednesday 24th) challenged in the House of Commons over the case of an RAF widow from South Gloucestershire who has been stopped after twenty years from collecting her pension at a Post Office. The son of the 81 year-old lady contacted Northavon MP Steve Webb after his mother was told that from April 2002 she would be forced to have her pension paid into a bank account instead of at a Post Office.

She was greatly distressed by this as she did not have a bank account, nor want to have one. She was therefore unable to get a cheque cashed that had been sent to her by the Ministry of Defence. The family were only able to resolve the problem by having the money paid into the son’s bank account, but this might not be an option for someone who did not have family close at hand.

Steve Webb raised the issue in the form of a written Parliamentary question and was told that almost 7,000 services widows had now been prevented from receiving their pensions at Post Offices as part of a cost-cutting exercise. Following this, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy raised the issue at Prime Minister’s question time, linking it with the continued decline in the number of post offices. In reply, the Prime Minister appeared to imply that discussions were still ongoing about the issue, but in fact the right to receive payment via a Post Office has already been withdrawn.

Commenting, Steve Webb said:

“It is disgraceful that a services widow who has been collecting her pension from the Post Office for over 20 years should suddenly be told that she cannot be paid unless she opens a bank account. This penny-pinching approach by the Ministry of Defence shows complete disrespect for pensioners and undermines the credibility of the Government’s claims about protecting the Post Office network”.


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