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Thursday, November 13, 2008, 16:44
The Post Office was yesterday given the contract to run the card account, which is used by four million people nationally.
It had been feared that had the contract been lost, 40 post offices in Swansea, 30 in Neath Port Talbot and around 30 in Carmarthenshire would have had to close.
Keith Richards, spokesman for the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters in Wales, said: "We are ecstatic.
"Without this the post office network could have been decimated."
The federation had warned that some 3,000 post offices nationally had faced closure if the post office card account was lost.
Mr Richards, the Glynneath sub- postmaster, said: "It could not have been better news. We have had the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads for six months since the announcement that it was going out to tender.
"Nobody has been able to do anything until they announced the decision."
The Post Office had faced competition to run the account from the private company PayPoint.
Mr Richards said: "Effectively, it's not the end of the closures, but what we are looking at is to build on this and hopefully keep the network between 11,500 and 12,000 strong."
Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell told MPs the account was "central to the viability of the network" and the next contract would run from April 2010 to March 2015 with "the possibility of an extension beyond that".
Mr Richards said: "It has been tremendous to have the public behind us and I'm sure it's not only our Federation of post office, but it's the public support that has shown the Government where they need to put the card account."
Labour candidate for Swansea West, Geraint Davies, said: "We had hundreds of people locally responding to this and contacted Gordon Brown.
"The Post Office is under pressure and the issue isn't giving more and more subsidy, it's providing with the network so it is there for the community to benefit from."
Gower MP Martin Caton said: "This is very good news indeed. It is the lifeline that we needed to remove a further 3,000 Post Offices from threat of closure after the programme has taken its toll.
"A couple of weeks ago a rumour was circulating that the Department for Works and Pensions was going to award the contract to the private company, PayPoint. That would have amounted to a death sentence for up to 3,000 of our post offices, taking a range of vital services out of more communities.
"Its impact would have been particularly damaging in places like Gower because PayPoint does not have anything like the service network in rural areas that the Post Office provides."
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