Post Office chairman Nigel Railton is expected to set out a “transformation plan” on Wednesday (November 13) to postmasters, retail partners and staff.
This new plan will aim to fix the company’s finances.
Post Office set to close 115 branches across the UK
The new transformation plan is set to include details on the closure of 115 “loss-making” branches across the UK, Sky News reported, which would result in the loss of more than 1000 jobs.
Post Office to set out plans for branch closures and job cuts
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 12, 2024
The Post Office network includes 11,500 branches across the UK, 115 of which are Crown Post Offices located in city centres and staffed by Post Office employees.
It will seek to close those branches or seek alternative franchising arrangements in a bid to cut financial losses in the long-term, according to Sky News.
A Post Office spokesperson said the new plan, which follows a strategic review earlier this year, will “dramatically increase postmasters’ share of revenues, strengthen our branch network and make it work better for local communities, independent postmasters and our partners who own and operate branches”.
The government is also said to have been consulted on the possibility of handing ownership of the network to thousands of subpostmasters across the country.
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A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said: “Post Offices are an integral part of the communities they serve and the services they provide for local people.
“The Government is in active discussion with Nigel Railton on his plans to put postmasters at the centre of the organisation and strengthen the Post Office network for its long-term future.”
Retail partners of the Post Office, such as WH Smith, Tesco, Morrisons and the Co-Op, operate 2,000 Post Offices across the country.
The rest of the network – around 9,000 Post Offices – are operated by independent postmasters.
