Post offices across Wales share in £1.5m fund

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Seventy-five Welsh post offices are to receive a total of £1.5m from a fund set up to help them stay open and diversify.

Organisers say it will lead to the equivalent of 57 full-time industry jobs being created across Wales.

It is the second round of funding designed to help sub-postmasters and postmistresses diversify and improve their establishments.

In July, £1.1m from the Post Office Diversification Fund was announced.

The first round of funding went to help 63 post offices in Wales.

Deputy Minister for Regeneration Leighton Andrews is visiting Glais Post Office in Swansea where refurbishment work and a bakery installation have taken place with backing from the fund.

Mr Andrews said: "Post offices are often the heart of the community and as a government we have always recognised their value, particularly in supporting vulnerable people and providing essential services in our most isolated and most disadvantaged communities."

Twelve Post Offices have been awarded grants of up to £5,000 each for small capital projects like air conditioning or security systems, while 63 have been given up to £20,000 for larger projects like renovation and improving access.

Thirty-four have also received up to £15,000 in revenue funding which will help employ new staff or increase their hours to provide more services.

Huw Roberts, director of Welsh affairs for Royal Mail, said: "One in seven of post offices have now been directly helped by the fund."

The diversification fund was opened in December 2008.