Production of the pension credit plastic wallets ceased because there was sufficient stock to meet likely demand.
Pensioners who satisfy the terms and conditions set by Post Office Ltd. for opening a Post Office card account can have their pension credit payments made this way.
In order for pensioners to make an informed choice about the type of account they should have their pension credit paid into, they are being advised that the contract which supports the Post Office card account ends in March 2010 and that if they choose to be paid into a Post Office card account now, they will need to switch to a different type of account at some point in the next few years.
The information requested is in the following table.
November 2003 November 2004 November 2005 Ward name Individual beneficiaries Average weekly payments (£) Individual beneficiaries Average weekly payments (£) Individual beneficiaries Average weekly payments (£) Blakelaw 850 38.68 1,030 38.93 1,050 39.34 Fenham 775 39.28 955 37.92 970 39.68 Jesmond 275 42.18 305 44.32 300 43.37 Kenton 635 43.28 770 41.10 770 42.37 Moorside 630 47.01 735 44.38 740 47.66 Sandyford 660 43.46 775 40.64 770 43.58 South Gosforth 245 40.24 290 38.41 305 38.04 Wingrove 400 49.20 470 48.29 520 48.44 Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central constituency total 4,440 42.80 5,300 41.30 5,380 42.76 Notes: 1. The number of recipients are rounded to a multiple of five and average payments to the nearest penny therefore ward totals do not always sum to area totals. 2. Wards are based on 2003 ward boundaries. 3. The number of individual beneficiaries includes both claimants and their partners. Source: DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) 100 per cent. data.