Royal Mail UK move threatens Crown post offices
Crown post offices, the 600-strong network of large high street branches, could be sold off, converted into shops or even closed under a review being conducted by Royal Mail, The Times has learnt.
If the post offices, many of which are landmarks in towns and cities, do disappear, it would mark one of the biggest shake-ups in the organisation and would infuriate unions and Labour backbenchers.
The future of Parcelforce is also unclear, because consultants drafted in to advise Royal Mail on strategy are believed to have suggested its closure.
Royal Mail is discussing the possibility of an overhaul of its operations with various consultants. A review by McKinsey, the management consultants, has recommended that the Crown offices should be closed, or converted, and that Parcelforce should go.
“The future of the Crown offices is being reviewed as a priority,” a Royal Mail spokesman said. “They are losing Pounds 80 million a year and we can’t let that continue. This has been a long-standing problem for Royal Mail.”
He said Parcelforce, which last year lost GBP102 million, was restructuring and aimed to reach breakeven this year.
The closure of Crown post offices, which employ more than 8,100 people, would be a blow to unions, which have already seen 30,000 jobs lost as part of Royal Mail’s sweeping “renewal” plan to return it to profit. The move would also anger MPs, who fear post office closures will hit urban communities. The Communication Workers Union has already warned the Government that, unless there is a pledge in Labour’s election manifesto to keep Royal Mail in full public ownership, it will cut off all money to the party.
There has been growing political concern over the current closure programme for sub post offices, in which more than 3,000 out of 16,000 branches are being shut.
Some MPs have complained that the closures are being announced on a constituency basis, rather than on a broader basis, to minimise any outcry.
Peter Skyte, the national officer with Amicus, said: “Royal Mail is anxious to make a profit, but we want to see that the service to the public is not reduced, but improved. Crown post offices have experienced staff which Royal Mail will need if it is going to expand its range of products, as it says it wants to do.”
Royal Mail is keen to ensure the profits coincide with the three-year renewal plan, a move that will trigger bonuses for all postal staff. At Royal Mail’s last full-year figures, it reported a Pounds 220 million operating profit compared with a Pounds 197 million loss previously.
