Post Office could hand ownership to staff amid review after Horizon scandal
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has published a green paper, starting the first big review of the scandal-plagued organisation in 15 years.
The review, which will run until 6 October, follows the publication last week of the first part of the two-year public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal.
Ministers said that part of the review will include looking at the ownership model of the Post Office, which is ultimately controlled by the government, including the possibility of mutualisation.
Ministers have previously met representatives of post office operators to discuss the possibility of handing ownership to the network branch managers who run its 11,500 outlets.
'This green paper marks the start of an honest conversation about what people want and need from their Post Office in the years ahead,' said Gareth Thomas, the post office minister.
'Post Offices continue to be a central part of our high streets and communities across the country. However, after 15 years without a proper review, and in the aftermath of the Horizon scandal, it's clear we need a fresh vision for the future.'
About 1,000 post office operators were prosecuted by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015 because of faulty Horizon accounting software that made it look as though they had been committing fraud.
The scandal, widely considered to be the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history, was the subject of the critically acclaimed ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, which aired last year and thrust the problem into the national spotlight.
Bates has previously criticised the idea of mutualisation. 'Currently, the government subsidises it and will continue to have to support it. They can't just give it to the subpostmasters and say: 'Here you go, mate',' he said last year.
In November, the Post Office announced it was to close up to 115 branches putting 2,000 jobs at risk.
Nigel Railton, the Post Office chair, is cutting hundreds of staff jobs in order to add £250m annually to operators' remuneration.
On Monday, the government also announced that it is to provide a further £118m subsidy to help the Post Office push through its restructure and transformation plans.
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The Communications Workers Union (CWU) criticised the award of the subsidy and said the Post Office and Royal Mail, which were split more than a decade ago, needed to be reunified.
'Successive governments have failed the Post Office, its workers and customers,' said a spokesperson for the CWU. 'And choosing to use government subsidies for planned redundancies, closures and so-called transformation plans that are nothing more than managed decline. The only way to build a successful future is to bring Royal Mail and the Post Office back together through a new joint venture ownership model.'
The owner of the Royal Mail was bought by Czech tycoon Daniel Křetínský's EP Group in a £3.6bn deal that took the stock market listed business private earlier this year.
The government said its green paper will provide the opportunity to work 'hand in hand' with post office operators and the public to ensure the company is 'put on a path to a strong and sustainable future'.
'We now have a once-in-a-decade opportunity to have a national conversation about the future of our post offices and their role in supporting communities across the UK,' said Neil Brocklehurst, the chief executive of the Post Office.
According to the latest official figures, just over £1bn has been paid out in compensation to more than 7,300 claimants across the four redress schemes up to 2 June.
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