Post Office jobs and branches at risk in shake-up
The BBC understands more than 100 Post Office branches and hundreds of head office jobs are at risk as part of a sweeping reorganization of the business.
Under the plan, 115 loss-making branches wholly owned by the Post Office could be closed.
The Post Office is considering other options, including alternative franchising arrangements where other operators or third parties could take over branches.
These factories employ approximately 1,000 workers. In addition, hundreds of jobs at the group’s headquarters are also at risk.
New Post Office chairman Nigel Railton will brief staff on Wednesday on the results of a review launched earlier this year.
The former Camelot boss was appointed interim chairman of the Post Office following the sacking of his predecessor Henry Staunton in January.
The aim of the review is to put the Post Office on a stronger financial footing.
The embattled organization is currently the subject of a long-running investigation into the Horizon IT scandal, in which hundreds of deputy postmasters were wrongly prosecuted over flawed software that led to funds being lost from their accounts.
Railton has told the Post Office Inquiry that a new protocol for deputy postmasters is needed to put them at the center of the business.
The strategic review aims to fundamentally change the way the Post Office operates.
The company has 11,500 post offices in the UK, the majority of which are franchised.
Of these, 115 are Royal Post offices located in city centres, staffed by postal staff.
Earlier this month, Post Office Minister Gareth Thomas said the organization was at a critical juncture and the government had commissioned its own review into what the future of the post office would look like.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the inquiry on Monday he believed the deputy postmaster general was not being paid commensurately with the volume of business he performed.
He suggested post office branches could fill the gap left by the closure of high street bank branches.
