POL00363145 - Post Office - Principles of Community Engagement on changes to the Post Office network
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Principles of Community
Engagement on changes to
the Post Office network
WS: are committed to engaging and supporting our customers and their
representatives as we make changes to the Post Office network. The
following principles will be adopted when communicating about changes to
your local Post Office branch.
We will Notify - where we are informing customers of changes around:
Opening hours
Temporary closure’/ temporary service interruption
Re-opening of a temporarily closed branch in the same site
Opening a new branch unrelated to a previous closure
Location used by a Mobile Post Office within a community
We will display a poster in branch (or nearby if appropriate) to notify customers of the above
changes, providing four weeks’ notice. Where four weeks’ notice is not possible, we will
provide notice as soon as we are able to. For temporary closures we will include details of the
nearest alternative Post Offices and our customer helpline/textphone.
We will Engage - where we are seeking feedback on a decision that has
been made on:
e Re-opening of a temporarily closed branch in a new location
(where the branch has been closed for more than three months)
e Franchising of a Directly Managed branch in its existing site
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While the decision to proceed will have already been made, we will welcome suggestions
about specific aspects of the change such as access arrangements and the internal layout.
We will provide four weeks’ notice or, where extenuating circumstances prevent this, we will
provide as much notice as possible.
During this period we will display a poster in branch and provide information online. We
will contact locally elected representatives*, the Consumer Advocacy Bodies and selected
charities?, providing clear information on any changes to services or access arrangements at
the branch. We will ask locally elected representatives to share information with other key
community outlets (such as notice boards, local charities, magazines, GP surgeries etc.). We
will publish the outcome of the engagement online and in branch, providing a summary of
key issues raised with a clear response to each and any changes made to our original plans.
We will Consult - where we are seeking feedback on proposals prior to a
decision being made on the:
e Permanent closure of a Post Office branch*
e Permanent relocation of a Post Office branch (including the franchising of a Directly
Managed branch to a new site)
We will carry out a six-week? local public consultation, informing customers, locally
elected representatives, Consumer Advocacy Bodies and selected charities of the proposal.
This information will also be made available online and for a Directly Managed branch a press
release will be issued to local media. We will ask locally elected representatives to share
information with other key community outlets (such as notice boards, local charities,
magazines, GP surgeries etc.).
The consultation will ask specific questions on areas where we would like feedback on access
to Post Office services and will confirm when the change will happen if the decision is made
to proceed. We will provide clear information on any changes to services as well as access to
and into the new branch.
We welcome all feedback with the following factors being taken into account in making our
decision, which we expect to make within four weeks of the close of consultation:
e Customer access to, into and inside the new or alternative branch/branches with
particular regard to vulnerable consumers
e Any local community issues which could be affected by or affect the proposal
At the end of the consultation process we will write to locally elected representatives,
Consumer Advocacy Bodies and respondents to the consultation (where practical) to confirm
our decision and provide a summary of key issues raised with a clear response to each. This
information will be made available online and in branch (where possible).
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These Principles have been agreed with Citizens Advice, Citizens
Advice Scotland and the General Consumer Council for Northern
Ireland; the independent statutory consumer watchdogs.
What to do if you feel these Principles haven’t been followed:
Please get in touch so we can investigate your complaint. We'll explain in our reply whether
we believe we have followed our Principles of Community Engagement and will provide you
with the contact details for the relevant consumer watchdog (Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice
Scotland or the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland) if you’re not satisfied with our
response. The watchdog will independently assess whether we have followed the Principles of
Community Engagement process (rather than the decision itself) and recommend any actions
with respect to the complaint.
FREEPOST Y
Call:
Textphone
We will provide an update to locally elected representatives if the status of the temporarily closed branch has not changed
after 12 months.
? Locally elected representatives include but are not restricted to the Member of Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Welsh
Assembly, or Northern Ireland Assembly, Local Authority Chief Executive, Ward Councillors, Parish or Community Council.
3 Selected charities are local Citizens Advice, Age UK, Northern Ireland’s Disability Action and Northern Ireland’s Rural
Community Network. All parties referred to in 2 and 3 aboveare encouraged to share all information with local groups and
organisations who they believe have an active interest in changes to their local Post Office.
+ There may be a small number of cases where due to circumstances outside our control we have no option other than to
permanently close a branch in a particular location. In these cases the consultation will seek feedback on alternative Post
Office service provision in the area.
° If the consultation includes more than four weeks in July in Scotland and Northern Ireland or more than four weeks in
August in England and Wales we will extend the period by one calendar week. We will not start any local public consultation
during the two-week period which includes the Christmas and New Year bank holidays.
Post Office Ltd, June 2018