Rural sub post offices are to get a pounds 450m injection to keep them afloat for the next three years in one of the biggest gestures to the countryside lobby so far.
The trade and industry secretary, Patricia Hewitt, will announce the grant on Monday to cushion the loss of cash payments of benefits and pensions which will be phased out of post offices from April.
Read MorePostcomm, the postal services regulator, is to investigate breaking up Royal Mail as part of a drive to increase competition in the market. The review, planned for next year, could result in the separation of the postal delivery network, including all postmen, from the rest of the group. It may prompt the resignation of Allan Leighton, the man brought in by the Government to revive the fortunes of the loss-making company. Royal Mail insiders say that the investigation itself could prove the final straw for Leighton, whose relationship with the regulator has become increasingly strained.
Read MoreA royal Mail regional distribution centre is to close next week as part of a major review of the company’s transport networks.
The South Devon and Cornwall Service Centre on the Langage Industrial Estate will close on December 8, following the announcement of its fate in March.
Read MoreThe Office of Fair Trading said Securicor PLC’s plan to acquire the cash handling and distribution business of the Royal Mail Group PLC, formerly Consignia PLC, could impinge on competition.
Following a review of the proposed transaction, John Vickers, OFT director general, said “it seems reasonable to conclude that there is a significant prospect that the transaction may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition.”
Read MoreThe Royal Mail is delivering more first class letters on time but admitted that improvements were too slow, new figures show today.
More than nine out of ten first class letters arrived a day after being posted between July and September, a 1% improvement on the same period a year ago.
Second class mail performance was 98.6%.
The first class figure of 91.5% was still 1% behind the Royal Mail’s target for the end of the current financial year.
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