Pension holders 'should be provided with cheque alternatives'

A number of pension holders might be negatively impacted if a suitable alternative is not created to replace cheque payments, it is believed.

Electronic payment systems will not suit all of the country's consumers, it has been highlighted by Dot Gibson of the National Pensioners Convention.

Ms Gibson, General Secretary of the organisation, feels that a non-electronic system will need to be developed once the UK Payments Council begins to phase out cheques.

"We can't have a system which is any more complicated because for older people it would mean that they can't manage their affairs," the expert noted.

Things like internet banking may not currently be much of an option for some older members of the country's population, Ms Gibson added.

The National Pensioners Convention last month announced that it has recently started consulting with the UK Payments Council about the forthcoming end of cheques, with these payments due to be scrapped by October 2018.

Posted by Liam Tomlinson.