A post office in Hove is at risk of closure eight years after being named as the alternative for thousands of customers when another branch shut.
The Post Office said today (Wednesday 13 November) that it was looking to close or dispose of 115 branches, putting 1,000 jobs at risk.
The 115 branches include Melville Road, Hove, which was merged with the old Brunswick post office, in Western Road, Hove, when the latter closed in 2016.
The Post Office said that it was looking at the future of a number of loss-making branches as part of a sweeping overhaul which would boost postmaster pay by £250 million over five years.
The branches earmarked for closure or sale – possibly to the sub-postmasters currently running them – represent about 1 per cent of the total network.
And as well as the 1,000 jobs at risk from the branch review, hundreds more staff could be made redundant at the organisation’s headquarters as Post Office bosses look to streamline back-office operations.
The government-owned business said: “We are considering a range of options to reduce our central costs.
“This includes considering the future of our remaining directly managed branches (DMBs) which are loss-making.
“We have had long held a publicly stated ambition to move to a fully franchised network and we are in dialogue with the unions about future options for the DMBs.”
Post Office chairman Nigel Railton said that the shake-up would also offer a “new deal for postmasters” by increasing their share of revenue.
And it would give them a greater say in the running of the business as it looked to move on from the Horizon IT scandal that saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongfully convicted.
The plans, which are subject to government funding, would see average branch pay doubled by 2030, with £120 million in additional pay by the end of the first year.
The Department for Business and Trade said: “Post Offices are an integral part of the communities they serve and the services they provide for local people.
“The government is in active discussion with Nigel Railton on his plans to put postmasters at the centre of the organisation and strengthen the Post Office network for its long-term future.”
A public inquiry is still looking into the Horizon IT scandal which led to the wrongful conviction of hundreds of sub-postmasters.
They were falsely convicted of stealing after the company’s defective accounting system made it appear as though money was missing from their branches.
Go to holland or Germany and you will not find any post offices. Coming our way !
Does it work?
I am convinced the Post Office submaster scandal was all about decimating the Post Office. They knew the Horizon software was duff from the very beginning but used it to try and criminalise hundreds of innocent sub masters, forcing many from the job and discouraging new candidates from wishing to replace them. Just another tactic to add to Privatisation for good measure.
I suspect the underlying problems with post offices are down to the fact we no longer send stuff through the post – or else we use other privatised courier companies – plus all state payments like benefits and pensions are paid online.
So any post office nowadays has to diversify as a shop or even as a cafe to get the turnover they need to make the premises viable.
And I guess that chasing a career as a post office sub postmaster no longer has the appeal it once did.
In Brighton and Hove we have the additional problem that post office shops, like our pubs, are probably worth more converted into flats.
So this is really about the economics of a declining industry. Our local banks have closed for similar reasons.