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<p>The Department’s standard method of payment for pensions and benefits is into a
bank, building society or credit union account. For claimants who cannot open one
of these accounts, or provide the details for their own account to access their payment,
the Department can offer two alternatives: The Post Office Card Account and HM Government
Payment Exception Service, both of which guarantee access to their payment of pension
and or benefit.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has been contacting claimants using Post
Office Card Accounts since September 2015 offering information to claimants to move
to standard payment methods.</p><p> </p><p>As a claimant may receive more than one
payment of Universal Credit in each month, we have supplied the total volume of Universal
Credit payments made into Post Office Card Accounts in each of the last 12 months
in the table below. Increasing volumes of Universal Credit payments into these types
of account reflect those naturally migrating from legacy benefits and taking their
payment method with them.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Month</p></td><td><p>Payments
Made</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2018</p></td><td><p>10,322</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July
2018</p></td><td><p>9,699</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2018</p></td><td><p>10,686</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September
2018</p></td><td><p>10,494</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2018</p></td><td><p>10,302</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>November
2018</p></td><td><p>12,160</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>December 2018</p></td><td><p>12,649</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January
2019</p></td><td><p>12,571</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2019</p></td><td><p>13,807</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March
2019</p></td><td><p>14,209</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2019</p></td><td><p>14,377</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May
2019</p></td><td><p>15,724</p></td></tr></tbody></table>
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