Post Office workers balloted for strike as 80 branches are shut or privatised - is yours affected?

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The Communication Workers Union (CWU) says 80 Post Office branches are being shut or privatised. Is yours one of those hit?

Post Office staff will be balloted for strike action against a plan to shut or privatise 80 branches in a mass shake-up.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) announced the move today as it released a dossier of branches affected across the nation.

It says 2,000 jobs are threatened as 60 state-run Post Offices shut and their services are moved into another shop - often branches of WH Smith.

Another 16 will move into another retailer under a ‘hosting’ arrangement and four more, in Peckham (London), Barry (Wales) and Northern Ireland, will shut with no replacement, the CWU says.

The union is also protesting the closure of the Post Office's defined benefit pension scheme from September which it says will leave "thousands of staff worse off".

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: "The Post Office as we know it is on the brink of extinction.

"It is clear that the board’s plan is one of closure, redundancy and cost cutting on an epic scale which will permanently undermine this great British institution.

"We are repeating our call for the board to resign with immediate effect and be replaced with people who are actually interested in delivering jobs and services through this iconic brand.

“We are left with no choice but to take strike action to defend the jobs and pensions of our members and the services they provide.”

The ballot opens on 1 August and the result will be announced on 19 August.

If it goes ahead the strike will be the first of its kind for nearly three years.

Kevin Gilliland, Post Office Network and Sales Director, said: “We’ve made steady progress in making our business simpler to run, reducing costs to the taxpayer whilst at the same time modernising our network which provides essential services to communities throughout the UK.

"We are making it better for customers providing unprecedented ease of access to our services through longer opening hours. We’re now the largest retailer open on Sundays, with 3,800 of our branches open seven days a week.

“All of our proposals are taken forward with the utmost care for the people they affect and we’re proud of our track record in supporting people through difficult changes.

“We will give serious consideration to any ideas that the CWU put forward to help us create the Post Office network our customers need for the future and urge them to work in partnership with us to secure the future of our services.”

Which Post Office branches are affected?
Source: CWU

Total crown post office closures: 80. This comprises 4 outright closures (where the office is closed down and no provision is made to retain services in the same area), 60 franchises (where the crown post office closes and the service is taken over by a retailer in the same area – the majority moving to WH Smiths), and 16 ‘hosted’ (where the crown office closes and staff and the service move into another retailer). The regional breakdown is as follows:

England (49):

Banbury, Beckenham (SE London), Beeston (Nottingham), Blackfriars Road (London), Bognor Regis, Bransholme (Hull), Bromsgrove, Bury St Edmonds, Cirencester Town, Crouch End (N London), Dingle (Merseyside), Dunmow (Essex), Durham, Felixstowe (Suffolk), Finsbury Park (London), Halifax, Harborne (Birmingham), Harlow (Essex), Harold Hill (East London), Harpenden (St Albans, Herts), Hartlepool, Headingley (Leeds), Honiton (Exeter), Kingstanding (Birmingham), Kingsland High Street (London), Lancaster, Leigh Park (Portsmouth), Lewes, Longton (Stoke on Trent), Lower Edmonton (N London), Maidenhead, Muswell Hill (N London), Newhaven (East Sussex), Penzance, Peterborough City, Pinner (NW London), Rye Lane (Peckham - closure), Sheerness (Kent), South Ockendon (Essex), St Andrews Cross (Plymouth), St Austell, St Johns Wood (Leeds), St Leonards on Sea (East Sussex), Sudbury (Suffolk), Sydenham (SE London), Wakefield, Walworth Road (SE London), Waterlooville (Portsmouth), Willenhall (Birmingham)

NI (3):

Antrim (closure), Londonderry, Shaftesbury Square (Belfast – closure)

Scotland (6):

Frederick Street in Edinburgh, Duke Street and Springburn Way in Glasgow, Kilmarnock, East Kilbride and Paisley

Wales (6):

Aberystwyth, Barry (closure), Denbigh, Holywell, Llangefni, Morriston

Hosted (16) (the crown office closes and staff and the service move into another retailer):

Aberdeen - Union Street, Barnstaple, Bradford – Darley Street, Dunfermline, Norwich – Castle Mall, Chorley, Chichester, Harrow, Llandudno, Lowestoft, Maidstone, Stevenage, Union Street, Warrington, Wood Green, Wrexham