Plunkett UK has welcomed the opportunity to respond to the Government’s Green Paper on ‘The Future of the Post Office’ this week.
Over 300 Post Offices of various types are housed in community businesses nationwide, and are a lifeline for many rural communities, providing not only postal and banking services but also connection, trust, and cohesion in communities where few other services remain.
The Post Office is an important service to Plunkett members and their customers. Therefore, the government’s green paper review marks a timely opportunity to consider how it can evolve to meet the specific needs of rural communities and the organisations that host Post Office services.
Following an online consultation hosted by Plunkett with around 50 community businesses participating in a series of polls, we submitted a response on behalf of the community business sector.
Uniquely placed
As the national body supporting rural community businesses, Plunkett is uniquely placed to support and deliver the Post Office network in rural and remote locations, ensuring that minimal service levels, and distance to a Post Office for people living in rural communities, can be delivered.
Part One of our response includes Plunkett’s answers to the relevant questions from the online portal of the consultation, with outline, reasoning and quotes, attempting to best represent the views of our member businesses throughout the rural parts of the UK.
Part Two goes into more detail in our summary at the end of this response about what we believe the current challenges and opportunities are that haven’t specifically been covered in the green paper consultation.
A new hybrid contract
In essence, Plunkett’s response said that we don’t want to see Post Office closures, but we accept that the current model of subsidising under-used Post Offices is unaffordable and unsustainable.
We want to work with Government and Post Office to create a new hybrid contract which allows community businesses to host a more basic Post Office service with more flexibility in the opening hours, reducing the pressure on staff bills and volunteer time.
“Post Offices are not just service providers — they are part of the DNA of rural life. Plunkett UK urges the Government and Post Office Ltd to ensure that the future of the network is fair, resilient, inclusive, and fit for rural purpose. We are committed to playing a proactive role in delivering this.”
James Alcock, Chief Executive, Plunkett UK
