Part-time post offices 'must improve' to survive

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Royal Mail should do more to promote part-time post office services that have been brought in to bridge the gap left by the closure of about 2,400 branches.

Consumer Focus, a new statutory consumer group formed from the merger of the National Consumer Council, energywatch and Postwatch, has made 38 recommendations it expects the Post Office to act on to improve the service offered by 'outreach' services.

These are typically mobile post offices or part-time services provided in a church or village hall and 433 have been introduced, although 500 were meant to be in place.

Consumer Focus says outreach facilities are a 'robust' means of offering post office services but they must be marketed better.

Locals should be given details about what services they can use the outreach for, when it will visit and where to find it.

Other problems highlighted by its research of about 40 outreach services include equipment failure, lack of planning for staff sickness and inadequate privacy for some users.

There are 12,000 Post Office outlets and the Government has promised not to support more closures.