THE loss of benefit and pension banking services will herald the end for thousands more Post Offices throughout the country.

That is the warning from sub postmasters in Kent who say taking away the post office card account (POCA) – used to receive benefit, state pensions and tax credit payments – will lead to the loss of vital business, leaving many Post Offices financially unviable.

Their concerns have been prompted by a government decision to put POCA services out to tender.

Rival bids have already been received and the government is to decide who will get the contract later this summer.

With 2,500 Post Offices already earmarked for closure, the National Federation of Sub Postmasters has warned that a further 3,000 Post Offices could be forced to close if the contract is lost.

Ricky Madan, sub postmaster at Barming Post Office, said a nationwide petition was already reflecting the huge weight of public opinion surrounding the tendering process.

“We’ve got over 200 signatures so far and we’ll have about 3,00 or 4,000 cards by the end of the summer.” he said. “We didn’t even need to say anything to them; people are signing on their own.

“Obviously it’s still quite a good part of business for the post office. People want that money cash in hand; they want that convenience close to them.

“If it goes there’s a lot of customers that won’t have a bank account.

“We don’t have another post office within a couple of miles; if we closed and Wateringbury closed there would be nothing between here and Tonbridge.”

Paul Madan, sub postmaster at West Malling Post Office believes the government has been dishonest in their handling of the Post Office.

“It concerns every post office in the country” he said, “it’s nearly the death of the post office”

“The government keep saying one thing and doing another.

“On the one hand they say they’re supporting the post office; on the other they are killing it off.

“It will kill some of the post offices off. They will lose customers and it will kill off trade.

“The elderly and the most vulnerable will be most effected.”

In Goudhurst, shop-keeper John Maxwell Jones, who runs the Post Office at Burgess Stores, said the consequences of not giving the service contract to the Post Office would be “devastating”.

He said: “If the POCA is withdrawn from the Post Office and goes elsewhere it is forecast that over 3000 more Post Offices will be forced to close.”

He said it would have a “serious effect” on both rural and urban communities, and have a knock-on effect on business.