It comes as the public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal, which saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongfully convicted of stealing, continues this week
The Post Office has confirmed plans to shut 115 branches, in a move that puts 1,000 jobs at risk of being cut.
Nigel Railton, Chair of the Post Office, made the announcement today as part of a five-year transformation programme for the struggling state-owned mail and financial services firm. The Post Office has 11,500 branches across the UK. Sky News, which first reported the closures this week, said the Government had been consulted on the plans.
Mr Railton said: “The Post Office has a 360-year history of public service and today we want to secure that service for the future by learning from past mistakes and moving forward for the benefit of all postmasters. We can, and will, restore pride in working for a business with a legacy of service, rather than one of scandal.
“The value postmasters deliver in their communities must be reflected in their pockets, and this Transformation Plan provides a route to adding more than £250million annually to total postmaster remuneration by 2030, subject to government funding.”
It comes as the public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal, which saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongfully convicted of stealing because of the defective Horizon computer system, continues this week. Giving evidence at the inquiry, Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, said “very significant changes” were needed to the Post Office business model.
He said: “I think, despite the scale of this scandal, the Post Office is still an incredibly important institution in national life. I look at the business model of the Post Office, and I think even accounting for the changes in the core services that are provided … there’s still a whole range of services that are really important. But I don’t think postmasters make sufficient remuneration from what the public want from the Post Office.”
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