Post Office Ltd to trial further ways to provide sustainable

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http://www.news.royalmailgroup.com/news ... ce_network

Post Office Ltd has announced that it will trial further ways of providing services in UK communities on a sustainable basis. Post Office Ltd has already gone ahead with more than 100 "outreach" outlets in rural communities, which provide Post Office services for reduced or flexible hours through local partners or through a mobile Post Office - and now has a further 130 in the pipeline. Based on this encouraging early experience, Post Office Ltd has decided to extend the outreach trials into urban communities which, if successful, could mean a significant number of additional outreach branches over and above the 500 originally planned. These additional trials will be undertaken during the remainder of 2008 and evaluated early next year.

The trials are a key part of Post Office Ltd’s on-going strategy to maintain a sustainable network of around 12,000 outlets across the UK following implementation of the Government’s decision to close up to 2,500 existing branches and open 500 outreach outlets. This further outreach model could well form an integral part of the Post Office Ltd’s future strategy for strengthening its commercial and financial performance.

Post Office Ltd Managing Director Alan Cook said, "We are committed to maintaining and developing a sustainable network which continues to play a vital role at the heart of communities throughout the UK and we know that to do so we have to continue to look at innovative ways to run our outlets. We have been developing outreach services successfully for the past five years with support from Government and want to test whether this approach can be applied to more communities."

Post Office Ltd also said today it would ensure more involvement for MPs going forward by engaging with them 10 days before the start of the public consultation in their constituencies in relation to the current Network Change programme, rather than a few days before the consultation begins as at present. Post Office Ltd will also

automatically offer each MP a further meeting once the consultation is underway to discuss their concerns.