Justin Tomlinson MP visits the Blunsdon Village Shop, a typical rural village that has lost its
local Post Office
Last week, Minister Ed Davey announced that a new ten year agreement between Post Office and Royal Mail had been signed. This agreement ensures that the full range of Royal Mail services will be available to customers through the post office network, thereby securing the future of our local Post Offices.
This agreement is in addition to the Government’s other work to secure the future of the Post Office by exploring how the network could grow to become the ‘front office’ for Government. Recently, the Post Office has been the successful bidder for a UK Borders Agency contract to collect digital data – fingerprints and photographs – for Biometric resident permits, worth up to £36 million to the network.
A recent deal with Royal Bank Of Scotland, including Natwest, to give their customers access to their bank accounts through the Post Office, now takes the number of UK High Street bank customers who can access their accounts in this way up to 80%. The Post Office provides a range of banking services on behalf of High Street banks, including cash withdrawals and paying in cheques, as well as building their own range of financial products.
In reflection of their growing services, Post Office Ltd has committed to a large amount of investment to improve customer experience: reducing queues, increasing opening hours, investing in self service technology and refitting branches.
Justin Tomlinson MP said “I welcome the Government’s announcement of a secure future for our Post Offices. Clearly the old model wasn’t working as we were seeing more and more of our valued local branches close. I am pleased to see some radical thinking and innovation between Government and the Post Office to increase the range of services the network provides and secure its future for the long term.”
