Delay and indecision is putting more Post Offices at risk
The great news that Uplands Post Office has been saved by powerful local community action is, alas, also a reminder of the damage done and being done elsewhere in the postal service
With the already announced closures of a further 6 Stroud Post Offices over the Summer, it appears that more may very well follow. The delays in deciding whether the Post Office’s will keep their contract to handle the pension and benefit payment card accounts (POCA) is putting the remaining network at risk.
Neil Carmichael, Parliamentary Candidate for Stroud, who attended the opening of Uplands Post Office this week, has expressed alarm that although the POCA contract runs out in early 2010, no decision has yet been made about its future.
Neil Carmichael commented, “This delay about the Post Office Card Account - used by over 4 million people - is causing serious concern. It is becoming almost impossible to plan ahead and, according to the National Federation of Sub Post Masters, this could mean a further 3000 post offices might be closed.
“The Business and Enterprise Select Committee of the House of Commons is also very concerned, noting that ‘delay is destabilising Post Office Ltd and communities in rural and deprived urban areas which rely on the Post Office for basic services’.”
Neil concluded, “Saving Uplands was a great community success but, of course, six were closed and, if nothing is done about the Post Office Card Account, more will be threatened.”
Picture attached: Neil Carmichael, Norma Rodman and Laurence Carmichael at the Save our Post Office March over the Summer
