UKG100023280
UKGI00023280
Message
From: Cooper, Tom - UKGI j
Sent: 20/05/2019 09:03:03
To: Miles, Annabelle (Communications & Partnerships) [
cc: Cole, Alex - UKGI i Clarke, Stephen - UKG! Adegun,
Oluwatosin - UKGI f°” ‘andini, Cecilia (Advanced Manufacturing and Services)
d Manufacturing and Services)
Wilson, William (BEIS) ‘egulation Executive)
7 GRO § Holloway, William (BEIS)
Watson, Craig (Advanced Manufacturing and Services)
a)
Subject: Re: NFSP Embargoed Press Release on Post Office Select Committee Inquiry
I'd suggest something like the following.
The objectives of the department and POL includes achieving commercial sustainability at the end of the current funding
period. So the aim is for the company to no longer need taxpayer support post 2021. The company also has to maintain
the viability of the network by maintaining minimum branch numbers of 11,500 and meeting the access criteria.
The branch network size and access criteria are being met. In fact branch numbers are currently stable and no longer
declining. The company is making a lot of progress towards meeting its financial objective as can be seen from the
results.
Tom
Sent from my iPhone
On 20 May 2019, at 09:35, Miles, Annabelle (Communications & Partnerships) wrote:
Thanks for flagging Tom. I have been in touch with No10 this morning who are keen to know our lines.
Can I check what our response would be to the question on subsidies for POL post 2021? Grateful if you
could come back to me by 10am as this is for morning lobby
Thanks
Annabelle
Get Outlook for iOS
From: Cooper, Tom - UKGI <__
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2019
To: Cole, Alex - UKGI; Clarke, Stephen - UKGI; Adegun, Oluwatosin - UKGI; Vandini, Cecilia (Advanced
Manufacturing and Services); Beal, Eleanor (Advanced Manufacturing and Services); Wilson, William
(BEIS); Creswell, Carl (Better Regulation Executive); Tolhurst, Mpst (BEIS); Holloway, William (BEIS);
Miles, Annabelle (Communications & Partnerships); Watson, Craig (Advanced Manufacturing and
Services)
Subject: FW: NFSP Embargoed Press Release on Post Office Select Committee Inquiry
UKG100023280
UKGI00023280
From: Thomas Cooper [mailt
Sent: 19 May 2019 19:18
To: Cooper, Tom - UKGI < E
Subject: Fwd: NFSP Embargoed Press Release on Post Office Select Committee Inquiry
Get Outlook for iOS
From: Alice Cookson
Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2019 7:02:43 PM
To: Tim Parker; Ken McCall1; Thomas Cooper; Carla Stent1; Tim.Franklin1; Shirine Knhoury-Haq
Cc: Alisdair Cameron; Debbie.K Smith; Mark R Davies; Patrick Bourke; Jane Hill; Ruth X Barker; Stuart
Taylor; Veronica Branton; Nick Beal
Subject: NFSP Embargoed Press Release on Post Office Select Committee Inquiry
All
I wanted to make you aware that the NFSP have today issued the below embargoed press release (to be
published from midnight tonight).
So far we have only been contacted by the BBC, but we should expect additional interest tomorrow.
I have also included the Post Office reactive lines below.
Please let me know if you have any questions,
Thanks
Alice
NFSP Press Release
PRESS RELEASE: EMBARGOED TO 0001 MONDAY MAY 20™
POST OFFICE NETWORK IS ‘BEYOND TIPPING POINT’, MPS WARNED
The Post Office network has ‘been taken beyond a tipping point’ and its future viability is now in doubt
without Government intervention, MPs have been warned.
The National Federation of SubPostmasters (NFSP) is calling on Government to save the UK’s post office
network from collapse with ‘catastrophic’ implications for local communities.
In its submission to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee, the NFSP lays bare
the extent of the crisis facing the post office network:
Around 1,000 branches are currently listed as closed — two out of every three closures are caused
by the resignation of the subpostmaster
22% of subpostmasters plan on closing or downsizing their post office in the next 12 months,
according to a survey of NFSP members — this translates into 2,500 post offices at risk of closure
Revenue received by the network from providing government services has fallen from £576m in
2004-5 to £99m in 2017-18 and there is no plan in place to replace this income
The government subsidy of the network is due to end in 2021 — without it, the network would not
be able to survive and 3,000 ‘community’ branches, typically in rural areas, would be most at risk
UKG100023280
UKGI00023280
As banks exit the high street, subpostmasters are increasingly responsible for meeting public
demand for banking services, shouldering the risks involved in handling large volumes of cash and
responsibility for forgeries, but for relatively low rates of pay
The NFSP says its 8,000 members feel ‘disenfranchised’ and ‘marginalised’ by the main industry
stakeholders - the Post Office, the Government and Royal Mail - and ‘relegated to the bottom of the
food chain’. They have, in recent years, been treated by the Post Office as a cost element to be reduced,
rather than as dedicated, experienced independent business owners upholding high professional
standards. Training needs to be improved and should cover operation of the Horizon computer system
in more detail.
Meanwhile, consecutive governments have pursed a ‘digital by default’ strategy, with the DWP currently
encouraging users of the Post Office card account (POca) to switch to using a bank account, leading to a
significant drop in subpostmaster income.
To add to a perfect storm, the Royal Mail is encouraging certain customers to circumvent the post office
network and instead use its services directly. The relationship between Royal Mail and the sub post
office network is vital — more than half of subpostmaster pay is generated by providing Royal
Mail/Parcelforce products and services. The current agreement between Post Office and Royal Mail
ends in January 2022 and the NFSP is urging the Government to ensure the new agreement does not
ignore the interests of subpostmasters.
The NFSP warns MPs:
“The viability of sub post offices and the morale of subpostmasters has been eroded to the extent that
the network’s resilience is extremely limited. We believe a tipping point has been passed and the
consequences of this are now being realized.
“Subpostmasters are resigning in high numbers because it is increasingly difficult to make a decent
living. The closure of 2,500 post offices in a year would be a catastrophic loss to communities across the
UK”.
The NFSP is calling for:
The government subsidy to the post office network to be guaranteed beyond 2021 and ‘rural
proofed’ to protect village branches
Increased remuneration rates to prevent a mass exodus of subpostmasters
Awider range of government services to be brought back to post offices to drive footfall and give
the public face-to-face access
A broader range of banking services to be available at post offices and a national strategy to
increase awareness of these services
Amove to develop financial products to cater for disadvantaged and vulnerable individuals to help
prevent financial exclusion
Calum Greenhow Chief Executive of the NFSP, will be questioned by MPs about the future of the post
office network during an evidence session onTuesday May 21st.
ENDS
ABOUT THE NFSP:
The National Federation of SubPostmasters (NFSP) is a membership organisation, which represents the
UK’s subpostmasters. It has more than 8,000 members who operate approximately 9,300 post office
branches. It is the only organisation recognised by Post Office Ltd to act on behalf of subpostmasters.
UKG100023280
UKGI00023280
Set up in 1897, it is the collective voice of post office operators, offering members representation,
support and solutions to realise the full potential of their businesses.
Post Office Response
Al Cameron, Post Office Interim Group Chief Executive said:
“We welcome and listen to all feedback from our Postmasters and the NFSP. We are committed to
ensuring our postmasters receive a fair remuneration for the vital services they provide to
customers. We announced at the recent NFSP conference significant increases for providing cash
deposit services. This is in addition to other recent increases in banking services remuneration. We
are working with Postmasters and the NFSP to continue to review remuneration to ensure the
Network continues to thrive and remain at the heart of communities not just for today’s customers but
tomorrow’s too”.
“Our particular focus is to make running a Post Office easier and more profitable for Postmasters so
they can continue to deliver for customers and provide the wider community support that people so
much trust and value. We have recently announced an increase in banking remuneration and a full
review of Postmaster pay to report back in the Autumn”.
“We know that our branches are not immune to the pressures facing retailers across UK high
Streets. As a result of this investment our network of over 11,500 branches is at its most stable for
decades. Over 99 per cent of the population live within 3 miles of a Post Office branch”.
“Our strategy is to continually improve and modernise our offer to customers, making sure everyone
has easy access to branches and can also start more journeys online. We are working to increase the
value for Postmasters while investing in the underlying infrastructure that provides secure systems
and access to cash across the UK. We have made real progress, maintaining a national network of
branches and increasing opening hours. Last year our income, the number of branch locations and our
profitability grew, with profits reinvested. At the same time we have a great deal to do, continually
adjusting for changes in technology and customer need. We are not immune to the challenges in the
high street”.
“Our focus on business performance is saving the taxpayer some £350m a year by next year and any
profit we make is reinvested to help everyone who supports Post Office — customers, Postmasters, the
clients whose products we distribute and our staff — maintain an increasingly resilient national
network for years to come.”
Post Offices operated from retailers is a model that has been in place for decades and it’s a model that
works. By adding a Post Office, an independent retailer will generate value by bringing more footfall
into their business. Independent research shows the Post Office acts as a key footfall driver for
retailers: 36% of customers asked said they had visited a store primarily to use a Post Office service and
52% had made a retail purchase. This equates to between £922 and £2,636 of additional retail sales a
week, depending on the size of the branch.
Longer opening hours are provided by linking Post Office opening hours to those of the underlying
retail operation, which the retailer is already staffing and funding. This means that we’ve added more
than 200,000 extra hours every week across our branches, and more than 4,000 are now open on
Sundays, making Post Office services more convenient and accessible for our customers.
Since 2012 we have modernised over 7,700 branches to make them simpler to run for retailers and
improve services for customers, through new modern environments and longer opening hours. When a
UKG100023280
UKGI00023280
branch is modernised, the postmaster receives investment from the Post Office to modernise their
premises, to help them make the most of both the retail and Post Office space. Part of the changes do
include moving onto a new contract from a fixed “core tier payment” to one based on fees per
transaction for Post Office products and services.
For businesses that host Post Offices, the complementary nature of the two businesses operating
together enable the retailer to maximise the profit of their overall business by using the footfall across
both parts of their business.
We recognise that all retailers face a challenge in ensuring that their costs are met and through our
modernisation programme, we have invested heavily in enabling retailers to operate their businesses
more efficiently.
We are absolutely committed to ensuring our postmasters receive fair remuneration for the vital
services they provide and we continually review fees offered to Postmasters. We also continue to work
hard to bring in new business for our branches, as demonstrated through the growth we’re seeing of
everyday banking services in Post Offices, and we recently announced an increase in remuneration
payments for banking transactions.
Generally, there has been a decline in Government services conducted at the counter over the last
couple of decades as a result of more and more people looking to access services online. E.g. people
can now get their driving licences online, but if they want to pay in cash they can still come to a Post
Office branch. We are however working with departments to build digital successor products that still
create access to the branch network as customers require e.g. a digital passport Check & Send product
is now available.
Through our agreement with UK banks, even if someone moves from a Post Office card account (POca)
to having their payments made into their bank account, they can still carry on getting their cash at their
local Post Office and many people have chosen to do this since payments to bank accounts were first
introduced in the early 2000s.
In respect of Post Office’s everyday banking service, we are committed to working with our banking
partners to ensure our Postmasters receive fair remuneration for providing this service, especially as
more and more people increasingly rely on our banking services nationwide. In addition to making
changes to help reduce transaction time there have been a number of increases in the remuneration
our postmasters receive. We most recently announced increased remuneration for banking
transactions, and we continually review the fees out postmasters receive, recognising that
remuneration needs to be both fair for postmasters and representative of the competitive commercial
environment in which the Post Office operates.
We also continue to work hard to bring in new business for our branches, as demonstrated through the
growth we’re seeing of everyday banking services in Post Offices, and our recent acquisition of Payzone
bill payments services brings new opportunities too for our branches - we’ve just announced that Post
Office and Payzone bill payments have won their first contract with ScottishPower, which will enable
SP customers to top up their Smart Meters at either Post Office branches or Payzone outlets later this
year.
Ends.
UKG100023280
UKG100023280
<image001.png> Alice Cookson
2017 Winner of the Head of Public Affairs
Global Postal Award for gincbury Dials
Customer Experience 20 Finsbury Street
London EC2Y 9AQ
JE ISIS I IOS IS OHSS HOSE OSE CIG OT OEOTIOESOTIOE OR ISS IE Ean
This email and any attachments are confidential and intended for the addressee only. If you are not the
named recipient, you must not use, disclose, reproduce, copy or distribute the contents of this
communication. If you have received this in error, please contact the sender by reply email and then
delete this email from your system. Any views or opinions expressed within this email are solely those of
the sender, unless otherwise specifically stated.
POST OFFICE LIMITED is registered in England and Wales no 2154540. Registered Office: Finsbury Dials,
20 Finsbury Street, London EC2Y 9AQ.
JES III OI IOI OI IFO RO OI SORIE SIO SIOI RIE IEICE OIE IIIA IA IIE
“Post Office Limited is committed to protecting your privacy. Information about how we do this can be
found on our website atwww.postoffice.co.uk/privacy”
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual(s) to
whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient and have received this email in
error, please notify the sender and delete the email. This footnote also confirms that our email
communications may be monitored to ensure the secure and effective operation of our systems
and for other lawful purposes, and that this email has been swept for malware and viruses.
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com