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Recent cyber attacks that have “severely disrupted” some of Royal Mail’s services will have “no effect whatsoever” on the rollout of the energy payment scheme in Northern Ireland.
he first £600 energy payments began arriving in Northern Ireland today.
The money includes a £400 payment as part of the UK-wide support scheme and an additional £200 in recognition of Northern Ireland’s dependence on home heating oil.
Last week, a printer began spurting out ransom demands after Royal Mail’s sorting base in Mallusk was hit by a cyber attack.
It is believed the incident affected the hub’s operations and threatened to release data stored by the company.
Public affairs manager for the Post Office in NI, Mark Gibson, said the organisation has not been affected by the Royal Mail cyber attack — other than some customers unable to buy international products to post, as Royal Mail are not currently accepting them.
“All domestic mail is totally unaffected,” Mr Gibson told the Belfast Telegraph.
“It doesn’t affect the vouchers in any way and there’s also no indication of industrial action coming up either.
“Hopefully, there won’t be any industrial action taken in the next three to four weeks and therefore it won’t affect us at all.”
Following the cyber attack, Royal Mail said today that it is still experiencing “severe disruption” to its international export services and is temporarily unable to dispatch items overseas.
The firm hasn’t provided any updates on when the incident is likely to be resolved and when international shipping will resume.
On Friday, Royal Mail sources said that items housed in the Mallusk depot are being shipped to Scotland in the hopes they can be processed and distributed.
The Northern Ireland distribution centre revealed its printers began printing out copies of a ransom note last Tuesday, saying “your data are stolen and encrypted”.
The attack is suspected to have come from a Russian-linked ransomware gang called Lockbit, the Telegraph first reported.
Vouchers for payments of £600 officially started arriving to households in NI this morning.
Only customers that pay their electricity bills via keypad or non-direct debit credit will receive the vouchers, which will roll out between now and the end of February.
When claiming the vouchers, in addition to the letter they receive in the post, customers will also need to bring ID and proof of address or their keypad card/app.
The name on each item of ID and the letter must be the same.
Those that pay their electricity via direct debit will receive £600 automatically into their bank account via their current energy supplier.
Some concerns have been raised around how customers with no photographic ID will be able to receive their cash from the vouchers.
“Photo ID is only necessary if you want to take cash out. If you don’t want to take the cash out, just bring your bank card and you can put it straight into your account,” Mr Gibson continued.
“This can only be done through the Post Office. Customers have to come physically to the Post Office with their voucher.
“You can bank at the Post Office with the exception of Monzo, Nationwide and the majority of credit unions, unfortunately, because they’re not part of the banking framework.”
Mr Gibson advised people with no photo ID and a Nationwide, Monzo or credit union account to apply for an electoral card, as it may be the quickest way to receive photographic identification.
However, this can still take up to six weeks.
When asked if there is any other way people with one of these accounts and no photo ID can still get the money, Mr Gibson said: “I don’t see that changing in the short-term. That’s what we have been informed of at the moment.
“I take it that getting an electoral card would probably be the quickest way of getting one. Even a Translink SmartPass will do.”
Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart encouraged people to contact their local MPs to help get an electoral card as quickly as possible if needed.
Mr Gibson noted: “There’s a total expiry date on all the vouchers of March 31, but we’re really advising people to redeem them as quickly as possible, because that would help manage the cash flow throughout the network and we don’t want 500,000 people waiting until the last week to try and cash these, because that will make a problem.”
For anyone claiming the vouchers on behalf of a vulnerable or elderly family member or friend, the Post Office spokesperson concluded: “There’s a form on the voucher that the person you are claiming the money on behalf of signs and you bring their ID as well.”
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