Warning for UK households who use Post Office branches ahead of new rules

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/m ... e-32060404

According to a new Green Paper on the state-owned firm's future, the current "level of Labour Party government funding to the organisation is unsustainable in the long term".

Post Office branches are at risk of closure after a review slammed "unsustainable" funding for the current model. According to a new Green Paper on the state-owned firm's future, the current "level of Labour Party government funding to the organisation is unsustainable in the long term".

The Department for Business and Trade had launched a three-month consultation on potential reforms. One proposal could see the Post Office requirement to maintain 11,500 branches across the country scrapped.

This is because the pledge has become "more challenging and costly" due to rising labour costs and declining visitor numbers. Another option could limit membership to postmasters and franchisees, while another could include customers, employees and communities.

The government says the Post Office "should be financially and operationally stable before mutualisation can be considered". But if branches shut, it could mean some communities have to travel further.

UK households are warned it could affect their local services. The DBT said implementing mutualisation would be a "complex, time consuming and potentially expensive process" that could take an additional three years beyond 2030 to complete.

The report promises 99 per cent of the population would remain within three miles of a full-service branch - but one per cent wouldn't.

Upon publication of the Green Paper, Post Office minister Gareth Thomas said: "Post Offices continue to be a central part of our high streets and communities across the country."

He added: "However, after 15 years without a proper review, and in the aftermath of the Horizon scandal, it's clear we need a fresh vision for its future." Thomas suggested the Post Office has a "considerable opportunity to do more in terms of providing services".

Thomas said: "If we could improve the way in which the banks work with the Post Office, perhaps we could see a much more significant role for the Post Office in terms of the provision of banking services on far more high streets up and down the UK."

Post Office chief executive Neil Brocklehurst said: "We now have a once-in-a-decade opportunity to have a national conversation about the future of our post offices and their role in supporting communities across the UK."

He added: "This Government consultation is a vital part of shaping what the future of Post Office could, and should, look like." Communication Workers Union general secretary Dave Ward criticised the Green Paper for "prioritising further cost-cutting and offering no vision for its future".

Ward said: "Successive governments have failed the Post Office, its workers and customers choosing to use government subsidies for planned redundancies, closures and so-called transformation plans that are nothing more than managed decline."