CWU welcomes Select Committee Report on Post Office Locals
17th July 2012
The UK's largest postal union, the Communication Workers Union, welcomes the publication of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee's report today (Tuesday), Post Office Network Transformation, which scrutinises controversial plans to change post offices. CWU hopes that the government will act on all of the Committee's recommendations.
Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, said: "Today's report brings welcome scrutiny to the controversial elements of the network transformation programme which threaten the post office network as we know it. Without the Committee's work, the 'Locals' model would have been rolled out largely unchallenged leaving hundreds of postmasters and their communities facing the loss of core post office services.
"As the report highlights, the suitability of the Locals model has not been tested and serious doubts over its sustainability and ability to provide communities with services exist. For that reason we are calling for a moratorium on any formal rollout of the Locals model.
"We share the Committee's fear that the Locals model will only work for large companies like Tesco through their convenience store network which could suck in limited services and change the ethos of the publicly-owned Post Office forever. If this programme marches ahead, post offices close and then services fail it will either be costly to re-open a post office or will leave communities without these services. There are too many risks and unanswered questions and too little consultation and collaboration with postmasters and communities for this programme to go ahead unaltered."
CWU believes the Locals model will not put the post office on a sustainable footing or act in the interests of all communities and welcomes the ongoing monitoring of the network by the Committee. CWU shares the Committee's concerns that if a branch changes its operating model but stays in the same place there will be no consultation, meaning customers essentially lose services without being consulted.
CWU asked the Committee to carry out a review of the Locals model as the union and its members - which includes postmasters, Post Office staff and postal workers - were concerned that insufficient scrutiny of the network transformation programme was being undertaken.
CWU is concerned that the Locals model could significantly harm the Post Office brand.
CWU supports:
- a rigorous assessment of Locals involved in the pilot to ensure sufficient flexibility to deliver viable post offices and suitability for different communities.
- a moratorium on further conversions until sufficient testing has been done.
- more testing on the social demographic of Post Office users to determine whether the Locals model meets the needs of consumers and service users.
- Retention of the Core Tier Payment for postmasters (see Early Day Motion 368).
- Government re-examining the tender process if it is going to make the Post Office the front office for government.
Download the full BIS report Post Office Network Transformation.
