Cold callers pressure pensioners

CALL centre staff were told they had to make retired people accept pension payments direct into bank accounts, despite Government pledges on payment in cash, Financial Mail has learned.

'We were instructed to make them have bank accounts,' said one former employee. 'Some of those we talked to were in tears, but we had to stick to the script.'

The Government had pledged to allow retired people an 'informed choice' on how they wanted their pensions paid. But just weeks after Pensions Minister Chris Pond promised that those who wanted to be paid in cash would have the choice, civil servants were told that ' failure is not an option' in the drive to push pensioners into using bank accounts.

At a top-level meeting in Birmingham in June, staff from Jobcentre Plus branches - the new 'one-stop shops' for welfare benefits - were told that the drive was the number one priority.

On May 11, Pond had told MPs that, though traditional pension books were being scrapped, those who wanted cash would receive Giro cheques.

Pond apologised for any cases in which pensioners had not been treated with courtesy after a Financial Mail investigation last week disclosed that people were regularly told they had no choice but to be paid directly or via a Post Office cash card, and were being harassed and bullied by phone calls and letters.

It now emerges that the aggressive campaign was ordered from a high level in his department. One source who attended the Birmingham meeting said that call centre staff 'have been intimidating the public because senior civil servants are intimidating them.'

Colin Baker, general secretary of the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters, said: 'They are ringing people in the evening to ask why they have not opted for payment into a bank account. They are turning up the heat.'

Much of the phone work has been farmed out to Vertex, a subsidiary of power and water giant United Utilities. One former employee of Vertex's centre at Forres in Morayshire said: 'The way they are treating people is scandalous. You have to ask first if the pensioner has a bank account. If they say yes, you take the details and that's that.'

The Department for Work and Pensions said of the Birmingham meeting: 'Managers meet regularly to discuss all issues.'

On Vertex, the department said that on the DWP's behalf, the firm operated 'a dedicated customer call centre to make it easier for those wanting information and changing to direct payment'.

Vertex denied that the department had told it to put pressure on pensioners, adding: 'What we are offering is guidance.'

In the wake of last week's disclosures, many more cases have come to light. Financial Mail has been given reports from across the country and even received a letter of protest from Norway.

Sandra McClure wrote: 'I'm my widowed mother's only child and live abroad. She cannot remember her PIN number so I won't let her have one.

'Please keep fighting for our elderly people. They need all the help you can give us.'