FIRST-CLASS IDEA...POSTIES COULD DELIVER CARE WITH THE MAIL

POSTIES could soon be delivering medical prescriptions and other vital services in a bid to revolutionise the ailing Royal Mail.

Families could also pay for wellbeing checks to be made on elderly relatives by the 120,000 frontline postal workers who carry out daily rounds.

The Communication Workers Union has proposed the idea to help future-proof the loss-making Royal Mail by “building on our biggest advantage, the fact that we own trust on the doorstep”.

The company is required to deliver letters to every home six days a week.

Dave Ward, general secretary, said: “Postal workers already do a lot of work for their community voluntarily, including helping with deliveries for food banks.”

Similar schemes have been adopted by

access their savings at 55 could lead to some running out of money later.

In all, those surveyed scored an average of just 30 per cent or four correct answers across the 14 questions asked.

Now Which? is pushing the Government to act on its pledge to introduce a pensions dashboard, an online facility where anybody can see all their pensions – including the state pension – in one place. postal services across Europe. One already operates in Jersey.

In a 2018 trial, postal workers visited elderly people in New Malden, south-west London, Whitby in North Yorkshire and Liverpool.

But the idea was “allowed to drift”, according to the union.

Royal Mail said it was working closely with the union “to make a series of improvements to our network and customer offerings”.

Last year, the rollout of dashboards was pushed back to 2023 – four years after the scheme’s initial deadline.

Jenny Ross, Which? Money editor, said: “Our research shows that there is still a lot of confusion around key pension rules, so more needs to be done to improve public understanding.

“It’s been five years since the Government first committed to introducing the pensions dashboard, so it’s crucial there is no further delay.”