Post Office franchises will cut network by 20% says CWU

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http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/post-of ... s-cwu.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Plans announced by the Post Office today (Thursday) to franchise 70 Crown post offices will cut the Crown network by 20 per cent and more than 700 Post Office staff.

CWU general secretary Billy Hayes called the move a "partial destruction of the Crown network" and raised concerns about access to services and survival of the post office network.


Billy Hayes said: "Today's announcement to franchise 70 Crown Post Offices - affecting over 700 Post Office staff - is a huge blow to the network. Staff will be in shock today at the scale of what will effectively be closures of Crown post offices across the country.

"This move will have a huge impact on the high streets of small towns earmarked to lose their Crown Post Office. These offices provide a dedicated specialist service to communities which will not be replicated by a window or two in a bigger shop. We've seen problems with access to post office services in previous franchise arrangements and fear this announcement could create further barriers to accessing a range of post office services.

"It leaves huge questions about the future of the Post Office - how can it realistically deliver services for passport applications, identity services and a range of financial services while being dramatically pruned back? What does it mean for Metropolitan Police plans to move into London post offices? What will it mean for the health of the high street and the many small business who rely on Crown offices for postage and banking services?


"This move could be very damaging to the future potential of the network. And with no meaningful consultation with the union, our members have had this situation imposed upon them. This flies in the face of Post Office and government strategy to move to a culture of mutualisation.

"We're strongly urging the Post Office to re-think these proposals and consider the future of the network, the communities it serves and the services it provides. At a time when the government is investing £1.34 billion in the Post Office, PO management's imagination is limited and all they can think about is cutting costs and reducing services - where are the plans for growth?"

Some parts of the country fare especially badly in the proposals:

Wales: 8 out 20 offices (Camarthen, Holyhead, Holywell, Llangefni, Morrison, Neath, Port Talbot, Rhyl)
Scotland: 5 out of 25 offices (Alloa, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Perth, Stornoway)
Northern Ireland: 2 out of 8 offices (Antrim and Ballymena)
London: 13 offices (Balham, East Dulwich, East Finchley, Eastcote, Great Greenford, Heathway, Holloway, Laindon, Potters Bar, Raynes Park, Rye Lane, Swiss Cottage, Wallington)
Liverpool: 5 offices (Breck Road, Huyton, Kirkby, Old Swan, Prescot)
Manchester: 5 offices (Didsbury Village, Gorton, Salford City, Swinton, Urmston)

One post office is in David Cameron's constituency of Witney. Another is in the seaside town of Whitstable in Kent which is currently fighting to save its Royal Mail delivery office from closure.

Read the full list of Crown post offices due to be affected as provided by the Post Office. http://www.cwu.org/assets/_files/docume ... 070213.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In a recent report (published November 2012), postal watchdog Consumer Focus criticised the performance of post offices franchised to WHSmith. They were the worst performer on queue times and scored badly on quality of service and accessibility.



Crowns performed the best on accessibility and showed the most significant improvement since 2009 as well as scoring highly on quality of service.

Read the CWU's response and full report here: Post Office watchdog asks: 'Are you being served?' http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/post-of ... erved.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As of March 2012 there were 409 franchised branches with companies like WHSmith, Spar and Tesco.

There are 370 Crown offices currently in the UK. These are the bigger high street offices directly managed by the Post Office.

The total post office network size is 11,800 as a mixture of Crowns, subs and franchises.

In the last year 150 jobs have been taken out of the Crown network. This along with other measures will save the Post Office £9miilion a year. CWU and Unite are working to help reduce costs in the Post Office. The union has also cooperated on branch mergers and trialling new models with view to making savings while improving services.