Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when benefit and pension claimants Post Office Card Accounts will be closed as part of the changes in benefit and state pension claim mechanisms.

The Post Office card account contract ends in November 2022. The Department is contacting Post Office card account customers asking them to update their payment method to a transactional bank, building society, credit union or internet based account. The number of Post Office card account customers has reduced from 2.2m in January 2016 to less than 300k in October 2021. Post Office card account customers who do not update their payment method to a transactional account are being migrated on a month by month basis to the new Payment Exception Service.