UK Post offices offered cash to close down

Post offices have been offered GBP60,000 to close down as part of Royal Mail’s concerted bid to close thousands of branches, it has emerged.

The government is expected to give the green light to the closure of 2,500 post offices when the consultation is completed in March.

And subpostmasters are expected to receive similar “compensation” to the last round of closures – an average of GBP60,000 each.

Bournemouth Borough Council is trying to set up a rare joining of forces with the councils of Poole and Christchurch to petition the government en masse.

Cllr Emily Morrell-Cross said: “Out of 14,000 branches nationwide, we are told only 4,000 are viable. So this round of closures is just the beginning. We need to act now.

“Branches are being offered GBP60,000 not to renew their licence, and that will be a big incentive.”

Cllr Andrew Garratt added: “By causing a rush to close branches, there is a serious risk the network will not be able to recover quickly enough, and there will be gaps in service delivery.”

A co-ordinated approach was also welcomed by Borough of Poole leader Cllr Brian Leverett.

It has also been revealed the government deliberately failed to tell holders of a Post Office card account – which started in 2003 – that it will end in 2010.
A letter from the Department of Work and Pensions to Mrs Morrell-Cross says: “Since the card account had a lifetime of seven years, our judgement was that this was a reasonable length of time for a financial product of this type and there was no need to draw customers’ attention to it at the outset.”

A spokesman for Royal Mail said: “The network is currently losing GBP4 million – that is the big issue.”