Post Office could hand ownership to employees amid review into its future
It marks the first comprehensive review of the postal service in 15 years, giving customers and postmasters the opportunity to have a say in how it is run, according to the DBT.
This includes the Post Office's ownership model, as the Government considers mutualisation, which could mean handing ownership of the company to thousands of its subpostmasters.
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 Neil Brocklehurst, Post Office's chief executive
Furthermore, ministers announced plans to award a new subsidy package worth £118 million to fund a transformation plan and further investment that could improve its services.
Post Office minister Gareth Thomas said: '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 its future.
'This Green Paper marks the start of an honest conversation about what people want and need from their Post Office in the years ahead.'
Neil Brocklehurst, Post Office's chief executive, said: '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.
'This Government consultation is a vital part of shaping what the future of Post Office could, and should, look like.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Leader Live
21 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Employee-owned Post Office model ‘unlikely to be considered until 2030'
The current level of taxpayer funding for the Government-owned postal service is unsustainable, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said in a new Green Paper on the organisation's future. This sets out its views on how the Post Office should be run in the future, including possible changes to its ownership structure. The DBT said turning the organisation into a 'mutual', whereby it is collectively owned by its members, was a possible long-term version of this structure could see membership limited to postmasters and franchisees, or it could also include customers, employees and communities. But the Government said the Post Office 'should be financially and operationally stable before mutualisation can be considered', meaning it would need to be profitable and cash-generative. It is also in the process of working to replace its Horizon IT system following the scandal, in which about 1,000 people are thought to have been wrongly prosecuted and convicted over shortfalls in their branches caused by faulty software. This means the earliest date to consider mutualisation is thought to be around 2030, the DBT said. It could then take a further three years to implement, with it being a 'complex, time consuming and potentially expensive process', the Green Paper read. The Government said another long-term option for the ownership structure is a charter model, similar to the BBC and universities, which sets out an organisation's public purpose and rules for how it operates. Meanwhile, the paper found that the Post Office's requirement to run at least 11,500 branches across the UK had become 'more challenging and costly' due to rising labour costs against declining visitors across the network. This has resulted in it requiring more subsidies from the Government in recent years, it said. The DBT said one option for the future of the Post Office network was to scrap the minimum branch requirement, meaning it could address loss-making branches and focus on bigger, full-service sites. But it would still have to ensure that at least 99% of the population stay within three miles of a full-service branch under this option. The Government stressed that its current level of funding to the Post Office is 'unsustainable' in the long-term and that the organisation should be able to self-fund investment in its network and postmasters. The Post Office made a trading profit of £22 million in the 2023-24 financial year, according to its latest annual report. But it is estimated to swing to a trading loss of £24 million for the latest year and £60 million over the 2025-26 financial year. However, the Government plans to award a new subsidy package worth £118 million to fund a transformation plan and further investment that could improve its services and its financial position. Alongside the Green Paper, the DBT said it had launched a three-month consultation period, giving customers and postmasters the opportunity to have a say in how the service is run. Post Office minister Gareth Thomas said: '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 its future. 'This Green Paper marks the start of an honest conversation about what people want and need from their Post Office in the years ahead.' Neil Brocklehurst, Post Office's chief executive, said: '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. 'This Government consultation is a vital part of shaping what the future of Post Office could, and should, look like.' Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), criticised the Green Paper for 'prioritising further cost-cutting and offering no vision for its future'. 'Successive governments have failed the Post Office, its workers and customers – choosing to use government subsidies for planned redundancies, closures and so-called transformation plans that are nothing more than managed decline,' he said. Mr Ward said the CWU was advocating a 'joint venture ownership model' that would bring the Post Office and Royal Mail back together and give postmasters greater say over the governance and direction of the company.
Telegraph
25 minutes ago
- Telegraph
DWP pockets £1bn from ‘giving up' on mothers' state pensions
The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) is set to save £1bn from its failure to track down mothers who were underpaid on the state pension. Hundreds of thousands of women who claimed child benefit missed out on National Insurance top ups because of DWP administrative errors dating as far back as 1978. In an attempt to rectify the failures, the DWP started writing to women last year, however, it has now admitted it may not be able to track down all of the women affected. Industry experts said the Government had 'all but given up' on mothers, and that retirees would suffer because of its 'dismal failure' to track them down. Home responsibilities protection (HRP) should have been granted automatically to anyone who took time off work to care for family and who also claimed child benefit between April 6 1978 and April 5 2010. The DWP initially set aside £1.2bn to top up these state pensions. The department's latest annual report shows that it has so far corrected the records of just 12,379 pensioners, paying out £104m. The average HRP arrears paid by the DWP was £8,377 between January 2024 and March 2025. But the report also shows the department now expects to spend just £29.8m on future corrections – a reduction of over £1bn. The DWP had previously estimated the state pensions of 90pc of eligible people would be corrected. This has fallen to just 8pc. It means the Government now expects more than nine in 10 of those who are thought to be eligible will not get what they are entitled to. This is primarily due to the failure of the Government's own letter-writing campaign to 370,000 taxpayers to raise awareness last year, which had an 'extremely poor response', according to pension consultancy firm LCP. Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, now a partner at LCP, said it was 'totally unacceptable' that the Government had 'all but given up' on underpaid mothers. He added: 'The DWP's latest report is a hammer blow to over 100,000 mothers who are receiving reduced state pensions because of errors on their National Insurance record. 'The Government's letter-writing campaign has been a dismal failure, and this was entirely predictable given its reliance on a complicated online claims process. 'Although there will still be some ongoing publicity, the figures in the annual report are an admission that the Government itself does not expect these efforts to have much impact.' Rachel Vahey, head of public policy at AJ Bell, urged the DWP not to 'give up' on contacting those affected. She added: 'The DWP has mis-managed state pension payments for thousands of people, and should be doing its level best to put the situation right. 'But relying on people self-claiming is a dangerous route to take – some may not understand the letter they have received, or be nervous about self-checking, maybe thinking that the letter is a scam. 'The state pension can be fiendishly complicated to understand. Lots of people might not realise they're not getting the full amount. 'If anyone has received a letter, or knows someone who has received a letter, then they should call the National Insurance helpline on 0300 200 3500 who will be able to support them in making a claim.' For those reaching state pension age before April 6 2010, HRP reduced the number of qualifying years you needed to get the full basic (old) state pension by up to 22 years. Otherwise, women needed 39 qualifying years, while men required 44 qualifying years. A qualifying year is one in which you have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions – usually through working – or received National Insurance credits. If you reached state pension age between April 6 2010 and April 5 2016, you needed 30 qualifying years on your NI record to get the full basic state pension. Those reaching state pension age after this will receive the new state pension, and usually require 35 qualifying years to get the full amount. A DWP spokesman said: 'We are determined to help people who have been left out of pocket as a result of historical errors which are no fault of their own. 'That's why we wrote directly to over 370,000 of those who were potentially affected and launched an online tool to help people check if they needed to claim. 'We carried out an extensive campaign to raise awareness of the issue and will continue regular communications to get people to check their National Insurance record.'
South Wales Argus
36 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Employee-owned Post Office model ‘unlikely to be considered until 2030'
The current level of taxpayer funding for the Government-owned postal service is unsustainable, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said in a new Green Paper on the organisation's future. This sets out its views on how the Post Office should be run in the future, including possible changes to its ownership structure. The Post Office is currently in the process of replacing its Horizon IT system (Kirsty O'Connor/PA) The DBT said turning the organisation into a 'mutual', whereby it is collectively owned by its members, was a possible long-term version of this structure could see membership limited to postmasters and franchisees, or it could also include customers, employees and communities. But the Government said the Post Office 'should be financially and operationally stable before mutualisation can be considered', meaning it would need to be profitable and cash-generative. It is also in the process of working to replace its Horizon IT system following the scandal, in which about 1,000 people are thought to have been wrongly prosecuted and convicted over shortfalls in their branches caused by faulty software. This means the earliest date to consider mutualisation is thought to be around 2030, the DBT said. It could then take a further three years to implement, with it being a 'complex, time consuming and potentially expensive process', the Green Paper read. The Government said another long-term option for the ownership structure is a charter model, similar to the BBC and universities, which sets out an organisation's public purpose and rules for how it operates. Meanwhile, the paper found that the Post Office's requirement to run at least 11,500 branches across the UK had become 'more challenging and costly' due to rising labour costs against declining visitors across the network. This has resulted in it requiring more subsidies from the Government in recent years, it said. The DBT said one option for the future of the Post Office network was to scrap the minimum branch requirement, meaning it could address loss-making branches and focus on bigger, full-service sites. But it would still have to ensure that at least 99% of the population stay within three miles of a full-service branch under this option. The Government stressed that its current level of funding to the Post Office is 'unsustainable' in the long-term and that the organisation should be able to self-fund investment in its network and postmasters. The Post Office made a trading profit of £22 million in the 2023-24 financial year, according to its latest annual report. But it is estimated to swing to a trading loss of £24 million for the latest year and £60 million over the 2025-26 financial year. However, the Government plans to award a new subsidy package worth £118 million to fund a transformation plan and further investment that could improve its services and its financial position. Alongside the Green Paper, the DBT said it had launched a three-month consultation period, giving customers and postmasters the opportunity to have a say in how the service is run. Post Office minister Gareth Thomas said: '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 its future. 'This Green Paper marks the start of an honest conversation about what people want and need from their Post Office in the years ahead.' Neil Brocklehurst, Post Office's chief executive, said: '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. 'This Government consultation is a vital part of shaping what the future of Post Office could, and should, look like.' Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), criticised the Green Paper for 'prioritising further cost-cutting and offering no vision for its future'. 'Successive governments have failed the Post Office, its workers and customers – choosing to use government subsidies for planned redundancies, closures and so-called transformation plans that are nothing more than managed decline,' he said. Mr Ward said the CWU was advocating a 'joint venture ownership model' that would bring the Post Office and Royal Mail back together and give postmasters greater say over the governance and direction of the company.
