Pensioners will be “trembling” at the prospect of losing “beloved” Post Offices, campaigners warn. There are fears of more closures across the UK as the Government carries out a consultation on whether to axe the rule to keep at least 11,500 branches open.
The Daily Express has launched our Save Our Post Offices crusade against further cuts to the network. Dennis Reed, director of the Silver Voices campaign group for over 60s, said: “Older knees will be trembling at the thought of losing our beloved local Post Offices and congratulations to the Express for launching this campaign.
“The local Post Office is the last bastion against the march of the digital world, which is leaving millions of pensioners behind.
“You can still get your pension paid in cash at the Post Office, you can pay your utility bills by cheque or cash, you can pay in cheques and do simple banking in the growing absence of local bank branches.
“And of course buy stamps and post letters and parcels. The Government should not be entertaining any reduction in Post Office branches, which provide an increasingly essential public service.
“Labour is obsessed with all things online and seems prepared to jettison this vital and efficient network which supports the cash economy and provides a vital human link with public administration.”
The 11,500 minimum branch requirement was introduced by the Conservative-led coalition government in 2010 following cuts over the previous decade.
The Labour Government has said its preference is to keep the limit in place, with loss-making branches continuing to be subsidised.
But another “lower cost” option being looked at is dropping the minimum branch requirement and making the size of the network an “operational decision” for the Post Office.
However, the Post Office would still need to ensure that at least 99% of the population stay within three miles of a branch.
The consultation document said: “Government recognises that a smaller Post Office network would likely be a concern to communities and this option is therefore not Government’s preferred approach.”
A third option is to develop new requirements aimed at targeting local areas with insufficient service provision.
Tory shadow business minister Dame Harriet Baldwin warned that Post Offices are a “lifeline for people who rely on face-to-face services, particularly the elderly, vulnerable people and small businesses”.
She has started a petition called Save Your Post Office, which she said has racked up 100,000 signatures.
Writing in the Express, she said: “It is of course a challenge for the Post Office to grow and evolve with the times.
“The numbers of letters sent is steadily declining, and more Government services are online.
“But the answer is not to axe thousands of branches, duck this challenge and hang our towns and villages out to dry.
“Labour cut thousands of branches when they were last in government. This time, they are back to finish the job.
“This is a death knell for the Post Office, and risks isolating some of the country’s most vulnerable – many of whom are still reeling from Labour’s callous decision to axe the winter fuel payment and living in uncertainty after a chaotic U-turn.
“It is a textbook move from this penny-pinching Government which seems to know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”
Age UK warned of the impact of more branch closures on older people who do not use the internet and rely on post.
Charity director Caroline Abrahams said: “It’s vital that a decent traditional Post Office service continues and is protected for the foreseeable future, so we are glad to hear that the Express have taken up the baton and are campaigning to keep branches open.
“The possibility of further closures to Post Office branches fits into a longer-term pattern of announcements about contractions in the availability of Post Office services, as the organisation responds to a rapidly changing market where more and more communications are going online.
“This is very dispiriting for older people who don’t use the internet and who therefore rely on traditional postal services, as they have done throughout their lives.
“Since millions of older people in our country are either not online at all or are not comfortable and confident computer users, the Post Office remains a valuable part of our national infrastructure and needs to be treated as such.”
There were 11,805 Post Office outlets in the UK as of March 2024, down from 18,393 in the year 2000.
There was a steady drop in Post Office branches in the 1980s and 1990s before the decline increased in the mid-2000s.
Since 2009 the number of Post Offices – which provide services including sending letters and parcels, withdrawing cash and other banking, bill payments and travel money – has remained fairly stable.
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “We recognise a strong and accessible Post Office network is crucial to delivering services valued by communities across the UK.
“It is right to consider a range of options to secure the organisation’s long-term future, but have been clear that our preference is to keep the overall size and shape of the network the same.”