Update on 27/10/2017
The Community Share Withdrawal Scheme has so far received over 1,600 applications. Approximately 1,500 of these applications have been verified and authenticated.
We previously stated that we were hoping to make the first payments this week, but unfortunately this has proven to be unachievable due to circumstances beyond our control.
As part of setting up the scheme, we have had to obtain new banking facilities as our usual bank informed us that they would not allow us to operate the scheme through our account with them. The opening of a new account has been ongoing for the last 3 months, as some high street banks indicated that they were unwilling or unable to assist us. This is, in part, because the activity of receiving a large amount of money and distributing it to 2,500 recipients triggered money laundering concerns even though this is a well-publicised business transaction. This has required us to jump through several hoops to give our chosen bank the necessary legal comfort that this is not the case. We had hoped this would be completed two weeks ago but delays as more and more information was requested has meant that the process of opening an account only completed yesterday.
We are anticipating that we will be able to start making payments towards the end of next week (week commencing 30th October), pending receipt of the relevant login information to the banks systems. These payments will be made in the order that forms were received by us.
In recognition of the delay, we are extending the cut off for inclusion in this first payment batch to today, 27th October. Any forms received after today will be held securely for processing at the end of November.
The PST Board would like to apologise for the delay in getting the first batch completed and would like to reassure all applicants that the processing team is doing its best to get the applications completed and paid as soon as possible.
If you have not received a letter inviting you to apply to withdraw your share, please contact Steve Hatton, the Membership Secretary on [email protected]. He will be able to send you a duplicate letter via email..
Finally, a few applicants have requested that we destroy the ID documents supplied after payment of the withdrawal. We need to retain these as evidence that we have paid the correct person, in case of any claims that we have not done so. The documents will be held securely for one year and then destroyed by a secure document destruction contractor.