Pension book plans spark campaign

About five million people collect their pension from post offices

Pensioners opposing plans to scrap pension books in favour of bank accounts have been outside post offices collecting signatures for a petition.

The government wants to pay the money directly into bank and building society accounts, which need a card and PIN.

The National Pensions Convention said this was "unsuitable for many people" and organised the low-key protest.

It hopes 100,000 people will sign its petition by May and said the campaign launch had been "very successful".

The NPC is concerned because it says anyone who forgets their PIN could not immediately collect their pension.

There are small villages where the post office is the hub of the community - people go there not just to withdraw their money but to talk and gossip Pensioner Albert Venison

They would have to travel to the nearest Benefits Office to apply for a crisis loan - a situation the NPC described as "totally unacceptable".

Albert Venison, from the Devon Pensioners Action Forum, told BBC Radio Five Live many people had had their pension books for years and had got used to taking them to their local post office.

"Cash points are not always available to people in rural areas. There are small villages where the post office is the hub of the community - people go there not just to withdraw their money but to talk and gossip," he added.

About five million people receive their pensions using a pension book.

The NPC said there were concerns over the long-term arrangements put in place for senior citizens whose pension books were collected by a different person each week, or in emergencies.

It also claimed the 38,000 key pad machines installed at post offices for pension withdrawals were unsuitable for the visually impaired.

'Better service'

Small groups of pensioners have been collecting signatures outside post offices and in town centres in Axminster, Devon; Braintree, Essex; Leicester; Brixton, south London; Cleveland; Blackpool; Portsmouth; and Birmingham.

An NPC spokesman said: "We are going to present this petition to Pensions Secretary Andrew Smith in May and hope to have up to 100,000 signatures on it by then.

"It has been a very successful launch but it's not just about one day, it's about the coming months as well."

A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions said that "a paper-based method of payment" would be provided for pensioners who could not use one of the three methods of direct payment.

This was unlikely to be introduced until 2005 but "people in that position could hold on to their order book", or pension book as it is commonly known.

"We are not going to make it difficult for people to get pensions and benefits, we are just introducing more choice and flexibility for them."