The Department\u2019s 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>
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>
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>
<\/strong><\/p> Month<\/p><\/td> Payments Made<\/p><\/td><\/tr> June 2018<\/p><\/td> 10,322<\/p><\/td><\/tr> July 2018<\/p><\/td> 9,699<\/p><\/td><\/tr> August 2018<\/p><\/td> 10,686<\/p><\/td><\/tr> September 2018<\/p><\/td> 10,494<\/p><\/td><\/tr> October 2018<\/p><\/td> 10,302<\/p><\/td><\/tr> November 2018<\/p><\/td> 12,160<\/p><\/td><\/tr> December 2018<\/p><\/td> 12,649<\/p><\/td><\/tr> January 2019<\/p><\/td> 12,571<\/p><\/td><\/tr> February 2019<\/p><\/td> 13,807<\/p><\/td><\/tr> March 2019<\/p><\/td> 14,209<\/p><\/td><\/tr> April 2019<\/p><\/td> 14,377<\/p><\/td><\/tr> May 2019<\/p><\/td> 15,724<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>"}
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