POSTMASTERS across East Lancashire are breathing a sigh of relief after the Government announced the Post Office had retained a major contract.

There gas been months of speculation over the future of thee Card Account which is used by millions of people to receive benefits and pensions.

The National Federation of Sub Post Masters had warned 3,000 post offices would close if the contract was given to a private firm.

Now Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell has announced that the Post Office would continue to run the card account, which distributes benefits, for the next five years.

He said he would do "nothing to put the network at risk".

Steve Harvey, postmaster at Rosehill Post Office in Burnley said: “It’s nothing but good news as far as we’re concerned.

“If the Card Account had been taken away it would have been the end of the Post Office.

"All that would have been left would be the big town centre Post Offices.

“The figure that 3,000 post offices would have closed is a complete understatement. It would have been more like 9,000.

“The whole network would have gone.

“It’s a big relief. We know we can be in business for the next five years now and get on with it.”

Manager of Blackburn’s Brownhill Post Office, Shahid Kadu, said that he was more relieved for his customers than himself.

He said: “It’s great news that it has been renewed.

“Our jobs would have been on the line because it is the main stream of income for the Post Office, but I am more glad for the customers.

“There are a lot of people who don’t use banks and a lot of vulnerable old people who struggle even to get to the Post Office, nevermind a bank in town.

“It is vital that we keep this service and we did think it was a real possibility that it would be taken off us.”

Around £80m is paid out every day to account holders, with many of them spending some of the money in post offices or shops run by subpostmasters.

The card accounts for one in four visits to post offices, rising to one in two in rural areas.