'Lifeline' Post Office decision due
Ministers may be about to give the Post Office a much-needed boost by announcing that it can retain its five-year £1 billion contract to distribute benefits to 4.3 million claimants, it has been reported.
The Guardian said that an announcement on the future of the Post Office Card Account would be made by the Department of Work and Pensions.
But a spokesman for the DWP refused to confirm or deny the report, saying only that the ministers' decision would be announced "as soon as possible".
The spokesman said: "The contracting process remains under way. An announcement on the outcome will be made as soon as possible."
The Card Account is seen as a lifeline to many Post Office branches, bringing in valuable trade, but the deal runs out in 2010 and there are fears in the industry that the contract could go to a rival operator.
Unions have warned that the loss of the contract, which makes an annual profit of £200 million, could lead to the closure of 3,000 post offices. Two million people signed a petition and 265 MPs from all parties signed a parliamentary motion calling for it to stay with the Post Office.
Earlier this week, Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell told MPs a decision would be made "very soon", but stressed that he must first go through all the necessary procedures.
He told the House of Commons: "The decision has to be taken in due order and I cannot take a decision before all the necessary options have been completed.
"The worst possible thing would be to take a decision which then got unwound."
