Local MP launches campaign to save the pension book

10.06.03

"Give our Pensioners the choice"

Kingston and Surbiton's Liberal Democrat MP Edward Davey has today called on the Government to halt plans to scrap pension books. He has demanded that all current pensioners are allowed the freedom to choose how they want to receive their pensions - including via the pension book.

Under its current plans the Government will have abolished the pension book by 2005, forcing pensioners to switch overnight to the new system that for many will prove confusing and complicated.

Over the next two years the Government will be writing to all pensioners with a pension book informing them that they must choose a different way to collect their pension. The options available are by transfer into a bank account or building society, transfer into a new basic bank account or through a new Post Office Card Account.

The Government hopes to save several hundred millions by paying pensions electronically, but the cost for our pensioners hasn't been considered.

Edward Davey commented:

"I recently visited Alfriston Day Centre for the Elderly and many of my constituents are anxious and extremely worried about losing their pension books. Many of them do not want to surrender something they have been familiar with for a long time.

"Some people don't have a bank account or don't want one. The bureaucracy required to obtain the new Post Office Card Account would defeat most people let alone the frail elderly. I am concerned that the government plans are seriously defective and many elderly people will have trouble making the transition"

"Liberal Democrats believe that Pensioners deserve to be listened to. We are collecting petitions to hand into the Government and I urge anyone that's concerned about the proposals to write to me to add their name to the campaign.