A union representing Post Office staff has lashed out at proposals that could result in 115 branch closures and significantly more than 1,000 workers losing their jobs, by describing them as “immoral”.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) signalled a fight ahead as the Post Office confirmed details of its transformation plan – first revealed by Sky News on Tuesday – that aims to boost postmaster pay by £250m over five years.
The embattled firm’s initial statement failed to mention threats to employment at its head office and within 115 larger “crown” branches.
While its wider proposals aim to place postmasters at the heart of the government-owned business in the wake of the Horizon IT scandal, it was later confirmed that 1,000 roles at the crown sites were at risk.
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These large branches are owned by the Post Office.
A franchise model was being considered as an alternative.
The potential closure of these sites is another option. While such a move would cut costs, it would also spread business to nearby branches run by sub-postmasters.
A cost-cutting drive would also see hundreds of head office roles go.
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But the CWU boss, Dave Ward suggested the business, and the government, would have a fight on its hands, describing the decision as “tone deaf as it is immoral” in the wake of the IT scandal that saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly jailed and struggle in their fight to secure redress and compensation.
“CWU members are victims of the Horizon scandal – and for them to now fear for their jobs ahead of Christmas is yet another cruel attack”, he said.
“While we are in the middle of a government review of the Post Office’s future, the employer has embarked on its own strategic review.
“It seems the Post Office has learned no lessons from its chaotic and uncoordinated mistakes of the past.
“We call on the Post Office to immediately halt these planned closures and the attached consultations – which, historically, have been nothing but playing lip service – and engage with the CWU on protecting jobs and services.
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“We also call on the government to intervene over this shambolic decision.”
The five-year transformation plan, which includes an effort to double revenues for postmasters over five years, was initiated in May by the Post Office’s new chairman Nigel Railton who ordered a strategic review.
He told staff on Wednesday that postmasters could expect up to £120m in additional remuneration by the end of the first year of the plan, representing a 30% increase in revenue share – tackling long-held complaints about poor rewards for postmasters’ work.
Promises of less red tape and a better voice in decision-making were also included.
Mr Railton succeeded Henry Staunton – sacked by-then business secretary Kemi Badenoch in January – and was under immediate pressure to set a new path for the scandal-hit business that served postmasters rather than itself.
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 £250m annually to total postmaster remuneration by 2030, subject to government funding.
“It begins a new phase of partnership during which we will strengthen the postmaster voice in the day-to-day running and operations of the business, so they are represented from the frontline to the boardroom.”
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Further changes being considered by ministers include potentially handing ownership of the Post Office to sub-postmasters, as revealed by Sky News last month.
Such an employee-owned model, known as a mutual, would be comparable in the private sector to that of the John Lewis Partnership – the owner of Waitrose supermarkets and the eponymous department store chain.
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Chris Head, once the youngest sub-postmaster in the UK but who lost everything when he was wrongly accused of theft as part of the Horizon scandal, welcomed the prospect of a widespread shake-up.
He said of the plan to deliver more revenue: “We must ensure that a large proportion of that ends up with postmasters to bolster their poor remuneration levels whilst at the same time innovating for the future to develop more products and services for customers in order to drive footfall into branches.
“There must be a commitment from government to help deliver this and the end goal being mutualisation for a successful future.”
Mr Head added that the prospect of head office job cuts in the months ahead was good news, saying: “Post Office has always been a top heavy organisation and that needs to change going forward to make it more efficient.”
