Post Office to offload more than 100 branches

(Sharecast News) - More than 100 Post Office branches are facing closure, it was announced on Wednesday, as the state-owned business announced plans to overhaul itself in the wake of the Horizon IT scandal. Unveiling its five-year transformation plan, the Post Office said it wanted to "significantly" boost postmasters' total annual income by increasing their share of revenue.

However, it also announced plans to offload around 115 wholly-owned branches, by either closing them or transferring them to retail partners and sub-postmasters. The move will put around 1,000 jobs at risk.

A number of head office jobs are also understood to be under threat.

In a statement, Nigel Railton, chair, said: "The Post Office has a 360-year history of public service. 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."

Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said: "The Horizon scandal should have been a wake-up moment for the Post Office. Instead, their first act following it is to today move towards hundreds of branch closures, hitting jobs and communities.

"Our members will make a stand against this and the government has to step in."

Flaws in the Post Office's Horizon IT system led to nearly 1,000 sub-postmasters being wrongly prosecuted between 1999 and 2015. The public inquiry into the scandal is ongoing, with many postmasters still waiting on compensation.

The Post Office is state-owned but run at arms-length. It is overseen by UK Government Investments, which is also responsible for taxpayer stakes in Channel 4 and NatWest.

The business, which receives millions in state subsidies each year, reported pre-tax losses of £81m in the most recent financial year, an improvement on the previous year's £131m loss.

The Post Office currently has around 11,500 branches.