Tag: UK

THE IMMEDIATE cause of the Post Office’s troubles is poor management. This much was admitted with his usual candour by Allan Leighton, the new chairman, as he unveiled his strategy for saving the business over the next three years.
The plan contains many of the elements needed to turn the Post Office round: cutting thousands of jobs (although yesterday’s figure of 17,000 is, in fact, lower than most estimates of what is required); ditching the chief executive, John Roberts, who must take responsibility for the mistakes of recent years, and whose departure will allow a shake-up of the senior management; and scrapping the Consignia name, one of the most disastrous rebranding exercises in modern corporate history.

Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt outlined a package of financial measures designed to help Consignia fund its restructuring programme. She said the company, which earlier announced 17,000 more job losses, would be allowed to use #1.8 billion of reserves. The Government did not intend to take any money from the company in dividends during its three-year recovery plan and would fund the Post Office network’s historic losses.
Ms Hewitt said thousands of postmen and women faced an “anxious and difficult time” because of the “very painful” decisions to cut staff. But the Government would do everything possible to find new work for anyone forced to leave their jobs under the emergency measures.
The Trade Secretary announced that the Queen had agreed in principle to a name change back from Consignia to include Royal Mail.

As he cleared away the Consignia-branded coffee cups from his desk yesterday, Allan Leighton took at least one small step in the restructuring of the Post Office.
The chairman’s decision to change Consignia’s name back to the historic, and popular, Royal Mail is likely to be by far the easiest step. The detritus of the previous rebranding – involving everything from china mugs to corporation chocolates – will cost little more than Pounds 1m to replace.