No one is preventing anyone going to the Post Office if that's what they want to do!  All Post Offices have details of types of bank accounts that can be operated through the Post Office.  Alliance & Leicester is an obvious one - it grew out of National Girobank which was set up by the Post Office way back in the 1970s. 

I don't think the disappearance of the pension books was a matter of 'what is convenient for the Chancellor'.  Receiving pension money weekly in cash is very risky in today's world.  The production and distribution of pension books was very expensive.

Could you please consider the 'quality of life' of those of us who are older people, who've never had a pension book and never wanted one?  Back in the winter, after I had major hip surgery, it was a marvellously secure feeling to know that I didn't need to worry about a thing - all my finances were in perfect order and everything went in and out as planned.  People around me were stressing about not being able to get out to collect their pension - I didn't have a care in the world, could just concentrate on getting better.  Same when I came home and wasn't very mobile - I sat here watching people struggling out in the bad weather and I didn't have to.

No one responded to my post above in response to Ed's question, but here's a perspective worth considering.  For those who still watch TV and those who'd like to see a return of the pension books, watch this on Wednesday evening this week, 8 pm 12th July on BBC1:

"On the Fiddle?
Wed 12 Jul, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm  60mins

Well, I seem to be answering my own posts here, which is not the done thing.  However, since no one else seems to want to come in here..

We watched the programme as per trailer above.  And if anyone wants an answer to the statement: 'The pension book means more than just money' - yes, it does.  Pension and benefit books, as well as girocheques, present an enormous opportunity for theft and fraud.  A percentage of books and cheques sent out by post never reached the person they were intended for.  The Dept of Work and Pensions said they were losing £7 million A DAY in fraud.

It's a comforting little fantasy, the idea that you could walk down the street into your friendly local post office, chat to people on the way, meet your friends in the post office queue, and walk out again clutching a wad of notes and be completely safe in the knowledge that no one would try to steal from you either on the way home or by a 'distraction burglary' or other type of opportunist theft.  It's a sad, bad world, and that comfortable little fantasy has gone. Benefit fraud is big business, and it starts with those well-loved pension books and girocheques!

I may not have a comfy little chat when my pension money arrives, but at least I know, when it drops into my bank account, that it's completely safe and no one can get at it but me.