UK government report calls for ‘mutualisation’ of postal service

According to a government report, ownership of the Post Office could be transferred from the government to mutual or cooperative ownership by employees, sub-postmasters, customers and consumer groups.
 
A board of directors, reporting to a forum that is representative of the members would run the Post Office. This is according to suggestions made by Co-operatives UK, the trade association for co-operative enterprises.
 
The report recommends that the Post Office should owned  by its members with the government's role limited to contractual or regulatory arrangements.
 
However, the postal workers' union says, the reforms would make it difficult keep branches open.
 
Billy Hayes, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, says, mutualisation was a "distraction" which would not solve the industry's problems.
 
Around 7,500 of 11,500 branches are known to be in the red and with the separation of the Royal Mail in 2015 it would be free to choose its access points.
 
Critics say, this would either force the Post Office network to become more efficient by closing branches or rope in supermarket chains as alternatives.
 
According to Hayes, breaking the Post Office away from Royal Mail and privatising the mail service would do huge damage to the Post Office network's revenue. He says mutualisation would not solve the problem, only government investment and commitment to providing government services through post offices would help to keep post offices open.
 
According to postal affairs mnister Edward Davey the report painted an exciting picture of what a mutualised Post Office Ltd could look like.
 
He said, a radical shake-up to combine elements of John Lewis and Co-operative Group's ownership arrangements would give those who know the Post Office best -- subpostmasters, franchise partners, staff and the communities they serve - a real say in how the Post Office is run.
 
"Mutualisation will only work if the key parties want to make it happen and believe it to be the best way forward - it is not something which can be imposed from above by the government. We will carefully consider this report before public consultation later this year."
 
The report has been welcomed by consumer representatives.

However, Andy Burrows, of Consumer said, the critical issue for consumers must be that change not only provided a secure future for the network but led to better levels of customer service and access to more of the financial and public services they wanted to see at local branches.