Rural UK post offices ‘need support’

POST offices in thousands of villages could close over the next few years after Labour failed to give a manifesto commitment to support the loss-making rural network.

Colin Baker, the general secretary of the Federation of SubPostmasters, said that he was disappointed at the lack of support after he and other organisations had lobbied for a pledge that rural offices would be protected. Mr Baker said he feared that all 6,000 loss-making rural post offices, of the rural network of 8,000, would close without government cash.

Rural post offices are supported by an annual government payment of Pounds 150 million but that is intended to continue only until the end of 2007. The threat to rural post offices comes after the recent closure of 2,600 urban post offices.

Labour has said: "We have made no commitment for the future of the post offices after 2008 but we are keeping the matter under review."

Mr Baker said: "Without further assistance rural post offices will close.

Suspicions are going to be heightened about the Government's real agenda for the Royal Mail group."

A spokeswoman for Age Concern said: "In many areas the post office is the hub of the local community and a place where people have the chance to meet their friends and neighbours. Older people should be offered the opportunity of accessing services at their post offices as well as other means."

Sub-post offices, which make up the majority of post offices, are run as private businesses with Royal Mail paying owners for the services they provide. Recently they lost a large amount of business after the Government's decision to pay benefits into claimants' bank accounts rather than pay them over the counter at post offices.

The closure of 2,600 urban post offices came after the Government offered incentives for some to close so that the remainder could secure additional trade.

Sub-postmasters were offered up to Pounds 70,000 to close down their businesses.

Royal Mail is also attempting to franchise out a large number of the 550 large high-street post offices that it owns.

Gregor MacGregor, the chief executive of the consumers' group Postwatch, said that rural post offices "are at the heart of the community and we would have thought there would have been something in the manifesto on (Labour's) policy about this".

The Labour manifesto makes brief references to Royal Mail, including that its "ambition is to see a publicly owned Royal Mail fully restored to good health, providing customers with an excellent service and its employees with rewarding employment". Its section on rural areas says only that it has put up Pounds 750 million since 1997 to support rural post offices.

A couple of years ago the Government tried to stimulate more business for rural and urban sub-post offices by offering through them more services, such as dealing with government departments via internet points, but this was not popular enough to continue trials.

Many remote areas have already lost their post offices despite the current government support scheme. Some receive only a mobile service and are without postal services for the majority of the time. A spokesman for Royal Mail said that the organisation was involved in initiatives to support the rural network, including partnerships with local communities and village halls. In Wales arrangements have been made with police stations so that people can report nonurgent crimes to post offices.

The spokesman said: "We are committed to the rural network and are preparing a report for the Government on what can be done to ensure that the service continues."

COLLECTION POINTS

* The foundations of the postal system were laid down by Henry VIII in 1512, when he appointed a Master of the Posts and began to maintain relays of horses and messengers on important routes

* Charles I opened a postal service to the public in 1635 with the Letter Office of England and Scotland – later the Post Office

* There are about 16,000 Post Office branches in Britain, the largest network in Europe and the biggest retail network in the country