Post offices vital to communities, says minister

Postal affairs minister Paul Scully said the coronavirus pandemic had shown just how important local post office branches were to people in rural communities in particular.

Mr Scully said the Government was looking at new ways to ensure the continued viability of post offices in the internet age.

He added that the Government was fully committed to ensuring justice for post office workers who were wrongly jailed in the Horizon scandal, including three from the West Midlands.

Mr Scully was invited to Waters Upton post office by Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard, and chatted with sub-postmaster Steve Bentley before buying a copy of the Shropshire Star and a bottle of Wrekin gin.

Mr Pritchard said he wanted the minister to see first hand the work that the post office does to support people living in the community. He said the role of the village post office had grown considerably in recent years as many communities had lost their bank branches.

The number of post office branches across UK fell from 17,200 in 2003, to 11,600 last year, although the decline has slowed considerably since 2009 when the figure settled at approximately 12,000.

But a 2019 report by the National Federation of Sub-postmasters found that 76 per cent said they were struggling to earn the hourly minimum wage, and that 22 per cent were planning to either reduce their operations or close.

Mr Scully said the number of post offices was now at its most stable for many years, and said providing a wider range of services – as was being done at Waters Upton – was vital in ensuring their survival. Mr Bentley, who is also a parish councillor, runs the post office and village store with his partner Katrina Baker, and his step-daughter Katie also helps out.

"Rural post offices are hugely important," said Mr Scully.

"The one here in Waters Upton is more than just a post office, it's a proper community hub.

"There are 900 people in Waters Upton, many of whom are totally reliant on the services provided here.

"We saw that in the pandemic, where Steve and Katie were going to people's homes, delivering their shopping, and checking up on them and talking to them.

"For many of them, it was their only contact, and that is what a rural post office can do, it is why it is so important."

He said the number of post office branches was a devolved matter for the management of Post Office Ltd. But he added that the Government, as its sole shareholder, had made it clear it wanted the present number to be maintained.

"There are now around 11,500 post offices, that is the number we have agreed with Post Office Ltd, and that is the most stable it has been for many years."

Mr Scully said the Government was keen to look at which services were in most demand.

"We are looking at where the demand is, and what we can do to make it easier for sub-postmasters to provide the services that people will come in for.

"We have got to make them viable. We can make sure we have got the right combination of post-office services, banking services and shopping provisions, and that seems to be working really well here.

"If you have got the banking facilities, that will hopefully generate the footfall to support the shop, and vice-versa."

"There are now more post office branches than all the banks and building societies put together, and we have got to make use of that."

Last year Mr Scully announced a £227 million package to support post office branches. But payments to post-office workers who were wrongly accused of theft and false accounting helped plunge Post Office Ltd into a £307 million loss.

The government inquiry into the Horizon computer scandal, which saw three former post-office workers from the West Midlands wrongly sent to jail, is due to begin on November 8, with predictions that the eventual cost to the Post Office could reach £1 billion.

Tracy Felstead, from Telford, Rubbina Shaheen from Shrewsbury, and Carl Page who kept a branch in Rugeley, were all jailed because of a glitch with the Post Office's computer database.

Mr Scully said it was not possible to predict the cost of the scandal at this stage.

"We want to make sure the inquiry leaves no stone unturned in ensuring that that justice is done," he said.

"This is something that has been going on for 20 years, and we can't look to the future until what has happened in the past is sorted out.

"It is important that we ensure fair compensation to those who have been affected, and also ensuring that those who have had to make up shortfalls are also recompensed."