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DRAFT LETTER FOR THE SIGNATURE OF MR JOHNSON TO
Jeff Rooker MP
Minister of State for Social Security
Department of Social Security
Richmond House,
79 Whitehall
LONDON
SW1A 2NS
On behalf of all the members of the Horizon Working Group I should like to express
our gratitude to you for returning to the Group so promptly with your team , and for
setting out very fully for us where you have got to in your plans to move to ACT from
2003, what remains to be done, and how you intend to set about that.
At the meeting you also returned to the questions which had been raised earlier on the
recent BA mailshot about the child benefit allowance. The Group was grateful for
your clarification that the policy on periodicity of payment of this allowance has
remained unchanged since 1982, and that the policy on methods of payment, whereby
recipients can freely choose between payment by ACT or payment by order book at
post offices, also remains unchanged. The Group was also grateful for your assurance,
which we entirely accept, that the wording on ACT used in the mailshot is that which
has appeared consistently over the past few years on a wide range of BA’s social
security forms and leaflets.
There remains however one serious concern. So far as we have been able to establish,
on every occasion in the past - whether addressing new claimants or, as in this case,
claimants already being paid by order book - the wording on ACT has been
accompanied by additional wording making clear that payment by order book at post
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offices is or remains an option for claimants. It is the omission of any statement of this
kind that has clearly confused many recipients of the mailshot and has understandably
upset the sub-postmasters and others.
I therefore very much hope that on further reflection you will agree that in the
circumstances the best course would be for BA to carry out a second mailshot to all
recipients of the first, making clear to them that the option of payment by order book
at post offices remains open to them whether they are weekly or monthly paid. A less
satisfactory alternative might be for BA and POCL to agree on the wording of a poster
or leaflet that could be prominently displayed in all post offices reminding child
benefit recipients that the choice of continuing to be paid by order book at post offices,
whether or not the periodicity of their payments is changing, remains open to them.
Finally, one lesson that we can perhaps all draw from this episode is that if there had
been a prior dialogue between BA and POCL about the impending issue of this
mailshot, much of the damage and potential embarrassment could readily have been
avoided. At the same time, the relationship between the two sides would thereby have
been strengthened, which we all agree will be essential to ensure a smooth transition to
ACT from 2003.
lam copying this letter to members of the Horizon Working Group, and to Stephen
Byers here.
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