Latest news from Silver Voices
As we wait for the Government to respond to our petition calling for at least a five-year extension to the landline switchover timetable, cracks are appearing in the telecom companies resolve to stick to the 2025 deadline. We inspired an article in the Daily Mail (see below) which is notable through a quote from Virgin Media stating that it had “paused all migrations to digital lines until additional improvements have been implemented”.
Petition Demands Digital Voice Review
BT is not being transparent about its current position, but it will be difficult for them to make non-voluntary switchovers when the programme is under so much scrutiny. The companies have been ordered by the Government to cease switching over vulnerable customers, particularly those with telecare alarm systems, and they are supposed to be reviewing those they have already migrated to make sure alarm systems are working. BT is also believed to be testing new technology which would enable emergency calls to be made even when there is a power cut.
It would help our campaign greatly if Age UK, which chairs BT’s in-house Digital Voice Advisory Group, stopped acting as cheerleader for the programme and recognised that the company has not honoured its commitments to support vulnerable customers in the switchover. The huge number of horror stories revealed in the press, sometimes with our input, of vulnerable people being left without working alarm systems or left unable to make emergency calls in a power cut, prompted the Government to call in the companies and read the riot act to them. These developments are not reflected on the Age UK website or in the advice given to desperate customers who ring their helplines.
SNOOPING LEGISLATION UPDATE
With the support of Silver Voices members, the petition on the official Government website opposing the proposed new powers for DWP investigators to access details of the bank accounts of all state pensioners and benefit claimants has achieved the 10,000 signatures target, forcing an official ministerial response. If you haven’t already signed it, the petition can be accessed on the link below:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/654080
Because the proposals are technical and they were sneaked in just before Christmas, there has not been a great deal of media attention so far. But we managed to persuade the Daily Express to give the issue a push in yesterday’s paper (see link below):
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1863162/Pensioners-snooping-digital-freedom
Please send the link to the article out on any social media channels you may use, to raise public awareness. Also alert your MP to this disgraceful attack on civil liberties.
The proposed legislation has not yet been considered in detail by the House of Lords.
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