Memorandum submitted by Mrs. Marjorie
Lewis
1. What services should be provided through
the post office network and why are they so important to you?
I believe ALL Post Offices should provide the
full range of services as a starting point. This would provide
a better service to the public, and reduce travel and time when
the local Post office is unable to offer a particular service.
The post office should be able to deal with
TV licences as they have in the past. They should also be able
to accept water board payments without a transaction charge being
applied. It would also be most helpful if more post offices could
do road fund licensing, especially in rural areas where a large
proportion of the population get around by car. All Post Offices
should also offer other DVLA forms, Passport Forms, EHIC Forms
etc. Herefordshire is a largely rural county and local facilities
in villages are vital. I should also like to be able to pay a
greater variety of bills at the Post Office such as council utilities
ie rent, council tax etc. and this should be done without the
need for payment charge.
People trust and want a face-to-face encounter
when dealing with paying their household bills. If the post office,
as been mooted, extends its banking provision, people would trust
such a respected body as the post office to provide such facilities.
With regard to banking, this is not a new or
novel idea. Central government set up Girobank through the Post
Office network, but regrettably, it was sold off to a commercial
bank. Many former Girobank customers were upset by the selling-off
of Girobank. Like myself I am sure they would very much welcome
the restoration of a People's Post Office Bank network, offering
current account and savings/investment account facilities.
Clearly, the billions that have been squandered
on commercial banks—interested only in restoring their own
balance sheets at the expense of taxpayers—have done nothing
to reverse the credit crunch in the UK.
A new Post Office-based People's Bank could
offer a wide range of services, including access to moderate amounts
of credit financing, across a wide geographically convenient area
of the UK.
There will always be people unable to use on-line
services and these will often be the vulnerable in society—the
elderly, the poor, the educationally impaired—in urban as
well as rural areas. These people rely on human contact and support
such as local post offices and other services to pursue independent
lives with dignity. How many post offices throughout the world
make a profit, and surely we have learnt in recent months that
single-minded pursuit of short-term profit is worthless without
considering the wider picture? I am content to subsidise local
post offices as part of a liberal, caring society.
I need an organisation I can trust and the Post
Office is a 100% trusted logo and what better time to utilize
that trust than now with so much uncertainty around.
With the continuation of the Post Office card
account having now been agreed by the Government, any changeover
should be made as simple as possible and pressure should not be
put on existing card holders to change to bank accounts. If people
want a Post Office card account their right to have one should
be respected. I recall only too well how difficult the DWP made
it for people to open card accounts at the Post Office and this
should not be allowed to happen again. The Government vehemently
denied these difficulties existed when they were challenged about
it after the event!
2. Based upon your experiences, do you think
services currently available through post offices could be provided
in a better, more cost-effective way
I do not believe it is essential that the Post
Office needs to be cost effective, although of course it would
be nice if it could be. I do believe that the Post Office is an
essential service that needs to be provided universally, regardless
of cost.
Although there will always be technology based
improvements to the existing personal service that post offices
provide, I do not believe that services currently available through
post offices could be provided in a better, more cost-effective
way.
3. What are the unique financial and social
benefits that the post office network gives you?
First and foremost, experienced staff who know
their products.
If nothing else, the existence of an accessible
(by foot) office staffed with real people (not a call centre in
the far east) allows for sensible discussion of options for post
and finance transactions. In small communities the post office
can help maintain other services such as the village shop, which
might not be viable on their own. This is certainly the case in
a very rural county like Herefordshire with poor public transport
connections.
Personal help and assistance in completing transactions,
everything from Bill payments, to Passports, to Motor Vehicle
licences, to business and personal banking, to e-topups, Bureau
de Change etc
A secure trusted environment, with financial
experience, able to provide financial services without bias or
prejudice or pressurised selling. An ability to access products
and services which are available during the visit to a Post Office,
no waiting for forms to be sent, or applications approved, or
otherwise through postal or online applications. Products on demand
such as competitive travel products, insurance, currency, Travellers
Cheques.
A Post Office is a social community centre,
which provides services with impartiality, accuracy, and human
contact.
To sum up, the Post Office network should be
given the opportunity to offer more things, not have those that
it does offer taken away.
6 March 2009
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