I had a great response from my pieces in the last Marlpit. A lot of people coming into the shop have been very interested in our experience in Florida, and I've also had a lot of interest in the changes to benefit payments. I was rather surprised how long the piece was when I saw it in print, so I'll try to keep it a bit shorter in future.

Going back to benefit payments, very few people have had a letter from the appropriate agency yet. The first ones going out seem to be recipients of 'War Pensions' from the Veterans Agency, and Child Benefit recipients. Letters to pension and other benefit recipients will start to go out in March. The various government departments have now said they are going to phase in the changes very slowly and will continue to use benefit books for people opting for Post Office payment for some months to come.

When you receive a letter, if you want to go on being paid in cash at the Post Office, you should not complete the form giving your bank details. Simply call the number given in the letter and tell them you want to be paid through a Post Office Card Account. Then at some time in the future you will receive a 'Personal Invitation' to open an account. If you bring that in to us, we can set it up for you.

I must emphasise that if you don't hear anything, don't worry. You will continue to be paid through an Order Book as you do now. As always, talk to one of us in the Post Office if you are concerned and we will do our best to help.

New Opening Hours
From Monday, 24th February, the Post Office will officially be open during lunchtimes and on Wednesday afternoons up to 4.30pm. Wednesday is balance day when we have to do all the bookkeeping for the week, so we still need to close a little earlier. The new opening hours will be:

Monday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm
Tuesday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm
Wednesday 9.00 am - 4.30 pm
Thursday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm
Friday 9.00 am - 5.30 pm
Saturday 9.00 am - 1.00 pm

The shop opening hours are currently:

Monday - Friday: 6.30am - 6.00pm, Saturday: 6.30am - 7.30pm, Sunday: 8am - 12.00pm

Steve Haines
Subpostmaster
steve@unilake.co.uk