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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Losing the Post Office Card Account
— how future changes may affect older people | | Author(s) | David Sinclair, Phil Rossall, Amy Swan |
| Corporate Author | Financial Exclusion Programme, Help the Aged |
| Publisher | Help the Aged, London, 2006 |
| Pages | 12 pp |
| Source | Help the Aged, 207-221 Pentonville Road, London N1 9UZ. E-mail: info@helptheaged.org.uk Website: www.helptheaged.org.uk |
| Keywords | Bank accounts ; Pensions ; Accessibility ; Postal services ; Closure ; Social surveys. |
| Annotation | The Post Office Card Account (POCA) was launched only in April 2003 as an alternative for those who could not or did not want to open a bank account when direct payments of benefits were introduced. Of the 4.3 million people receiving benefits via a POCA, about 40% are older people. The Government's decision not to renew the POCA contract in 2010 has led to many complaints from older people whose ability to access their pensions and other financial services would be severely curtailed. This report presents the findings of a survey by Help the Aged of 843 older people, to better understand their views on the POCA, what they may want from a replacement, and what other support may be needed. Post offices are seen as convenient, trustworthy and reliable places for financial transactions and advice; and there are concerns about the negative impact on the post office network of withdrawal of the POCA. Consequently, the alternative product required by many respondents would need to offer similar facilities to those already provided by the POCA. (RH) |
| Accession Number | CPA-070125001 B |
| Classmark | WNN: JJ: 5CA: XKP: 5YW: 3F |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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