Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the appropriateness of exclusively using an American company to process payments of the state pension to British citizens living overseas which leaves claimants without payment in weeks of American state holidays.

DWP utilise services provided by the pan-government Money Transmission Services (Lot 3) contract, owned by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to make payment to entitled customers who reside abroad. The contract was awarded in 2015 following procurement in compliance with Public Contract Regulations.

Citibank is a global provider of international payments and provides a reliable and secure payment route for DWP customers in over 200 countries.

Claimant payments are only affected by bank holidays in the country of residence and the payment is available for the customer on that country’s next working day.

Payments to British citizens living overseas are not impacted by American state holidays.