Wikipedia

Post Office Limited

(Redirected from Crown Post Office)
This article is about the UK retail post office company from 1970. For its prior history, see General Post Office. For the UK postal service and courier company, see Royal Mail. For national postal networks in general sometimes called "the Post Office", see Mail. For other uses of the name and term Post Office, see Post Office (disambiguation).

Post Office Limited, commonly known as the Post Office, is a retail post office company in the United Kingdom that provides a wide range of postal and non-postal related products including postage stamps, banking, insurance, bureau de change and identity verification services to the public through its nationwide network of around 11,500 post office branches. Most of these branch post offices (c. 99%) are run by franchise partners or by independent business people known as subpostmasters; Post Office Limited directly manages the remaining 1%, known as Crown post offices.[4]

Post Office Limited
Native name
Welsh: Swyddfa'r Post Cyf.
FormerlyPost Office Counters Ltd (1987–2001)[1]
Company typeState-owned private company limited by shares
IndustryPostal service
PredecessorGeneral Post Office
Founded13 August 1987[1]
Headquarters
London
,
England
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
Revenue£885 million (2023)
£50 million (2023)
OwnerGovernment of the United Kingdom
Number of employees
3,592 (2023)[3]
Websitepostoffice.co.uk Edit this at Wikidata

Since 2020, a public enquiry has been under way into the company's actions which led to between 700 and 900 subpostmasters being wrongfully prosecuted for financial crimes,[5] in what has been described by the Criminal Cases Review Commission as "the biggest single series of wrongful convictions in British legal history".[6][7][8]

History

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Post Office branches, along with the Royal Mail delivery service, were formerly part of the General Post Office and, after the passage of the Post Office Act 1969, the Post Office, a statutory corporation. Post Office Counters Limited was created as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Post Office in 1987. The first managing director of Post Office Counters was John Roberts, who took up the post in 1987.[9][10] A former civil servant, Richard Dykes, took over as managing director of Post Office Counters in September 1993.[11] Dykes was succeeded in May 1996 by Stuart Sweetman,[12] who continued to serve in that role until his retirement in November 2001.[13]

After the Post Office statutory corporation was changed to a public company, Royal Mail Group, in 2001, Post Office Counters Limited became Post Office Limited.[1] In 2002, David Mills was appointed as chief executive of Post Office Limited, a newly created role.[14][15] Mills stepped down at the end of 2005.[16] His successor, Alan Cook, was appointed with the title of managing director in January 2006. Cook had previously been chief executive of National Savings & Investments.[17]

With declining mail usage, Post Office Limited had chronic losses, with a reported £102 million lost in 2006, raising concerns in the media regarding its ability as a company to operate efficiently.[18] Minutes of a board meeting in April 2006 state that the company was insolvent and unable to meet its future debts.[19] Plans to cut the £150m-a-year subsidy for rural post offices led to the announcement that 2,500 local post offices were to be closed during 2007.[20]

 
A branch of WHSmith in Hounslow, incorporating a post office

In 2007, the government gave a £1.7 billion subsidy to Royal Mail Group so that it could turn a profit by 2011. This was to be used to invest across the whole network of Royal Mail, Post Office Limited, and Parcelforce. Eighty-five Crown post offices were closed, 70 of which were sold to WHSmith. This followed a trial of six Post Office outlets in WHSmith stores. WHSmith was expected to make up to £2.5 million extra in annual profit. 2,500 sub-post offices closed between 2008 and 2009. Redundancy packages were provided from public funding (subpostmasters were paid over 20 months salary, roughly £65,000 each).[21]

In 2010, David Smith succeeded Alan Cook as managing director. Smith had previously been managing director of Parcelforce, another Royal Mail subsidiary.[22] In November 2010, the government committed £1.34 billion of funding up to 2015 to Post Office Limited to enable it to modernise the Post Office network.[23]

As part of the Postal Services Act 2011, Post Office Limited became independent of Royal Mail Group on 1 April 2012[24] and, in the same month, Paula Vennells was appointed as its chief executive;[25] she had been with Post Office Limited since 2007 as the network director.[26] The first chair of the board of the new company was Alice Perkins, who had for a time led human resources management in the Civil Service.[27] A ten-year inter-business agreement was signed between Royal Mail and Post Office Limited to allow post offices to continue issuing stamps, and handling letters and parcels for Royal Mail.[28] The Act also contained the option for Post Office Limited to become a mutual organisation in the future.[29]

In February 2013, Post Office Limited announced it was planning to move around seventy of its Crown post offices into shops. This would reduce the Crown network, which it stated was losing £40 million a year, to around 300.[30] In November 2013, the government committed an additional £640 million of funding for 2015 to 2018 to allow Post Office Limited to complete its network modernisation.[31] In June 2015, the Post Office launched its own mobile virtual network operator service, Post Office Mobile.[32] However, in August 2016 it decided "to conclude the trial as the results did not give us sufficient confidence that mobile will contribute to our goal of commercial sustainability".[33] In April 2016, the Post Office agreed to hand over up to 61 more branches to WHSmith in a 10-year deal. The deal was condemned as "blatant back-door privatisation" by the Communications Workers Union.[34] In 2018, the Post Office acquired Payzone's UK bill payment business after it was split from Payzone Ireland, to expand its bill payment network.[35]

Perkins stood down as chair in July 2015 and was replaced in October of that year by Tim Parker, a businessman who had led and restructured a number of companies.[36][37] He at first worked one-and-a-half days a week, reducing to two days a month in November 2017.[38] Speaking in 2024, Parker described a business in "deep crisis":[39]

The Post Office has a turnover of just under £1 billion, which makes it a sort of medium-sized company, but in fact it is an incredibly complex business: it's complex because it operates a network of around 11,500 sites; it's complex because it has a very wide range of products; it's complex also because it deals with cash, and cash has a big security element to it; it's complex because it's in the public sector. [...] This is a business which had absorbed billions of pounds of taxpayers money and was still losing money. It was a business that faced significant challenges because it had an exclusive arrangement with the Royal Mail, and the Royal Mail itself was suffering from increasing competition in the parcels market and a declining letters market. The Post Office had previously had a significant amount of business from the Government, so driving licences, benefits, that kind of thing. That had all moved online and so the Post Office was bereft a significant chunk of its contribution. The Post Office had a range of products which it attempted to sell, with varying degrees of success, and it also had a very complex structure in terms of its overheads and management.

In February 2019, the Post Office announced that Vennells would leave her role as CEO to become chair of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.[40] It was subsequently confirmed that the new CEO would be Nick Read, who had held senior roles at several customer-facing businesses and had been CEO of the Nisa convenience store group.[41] Read promoted "click and collect" services for retailers, alongside parcel drop-off services.[42]

In February 2021, the Post Office agreed to sell its broadband and home phone services to Shell Energy and exit the telecoms market.[43] The purchase price was around £80 million, with around 500,000 customers transferring to the new provider.[44]

Parker completed a second term as chair in September 2022.[45] He was replaced in December by Henry Staunton, who had held senior board roles at a number of companies and had chaired WHSmith until June of that year.[46] He was removed on 27 January 2024, following disagreements with the Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch on matters including the appointment of a new independent director.[47]

In April 2024, CEO Read was "exonerated of all the misconduct allegations" in relation to claims made by a whistleblower, revealed in Parliament. This followed an investigation by an external barrister.[48] Nigel Railton, previously CEO of Camelot UK, was appointed interim chair in May 2024 for a 12-month term.[49]

In November 2024, the Post Office announced the planned closure of 115 post offices.[50][51] The closures will equate to around one per cent of the company's retail footprint.[50]

Services

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Crown Post Office in Oxford, Oxfordshire
 
Crown Post Office in Otley, West Yorkshire

As of March 2022 there were 11,635 post office branches across the UK, of which 117 were directly managed by Post Office Limited (known as Crown post office branches).[4] The majority of other branches (9,617 in total) were run either by franchise partners or by local subpostmasters (who may be members of the National Federation of SubPostmasters or the CWU Postmasters Branch); these are known as Agency post office branches. The remaining 1,901 branches (making up 16% of the network) were what are known as 'outreach services': these are typically small, part-time branches, perhaps making use of a mobile van or a village hall.[52]

The Post Office rolled out the 'ParcelShop' scheme in Summer 2019, allowing retail stores to accept Royal Mail Internet returns, in order to expand Post Office facilities.[53]

In some villages an outreach service is provided in village halls or shops. There are also "mobile post offices" using converted vans which travel between rural areas.[54][55]

Postal services

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Interior of Trowbridge post office, showing available merchandise

The Post Office provides information on services and accepts postal items and payment on behalf of the two collection and delivery divisions of Royal Mail Group, Royal Mail and Parcelforce, plus parcel services on behalf of Evri and DPD.[56][57]

Royal Mail Group

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Services provided include a variety of new ordinary and guaranteed services both for delivery within the United Kingdom and to international destinations. Postage stamps (including commemorative stamps and other philatelic items) are sold, while applications for redirection of mail are accepted on behalf of Royal Mail. Post Office Local Collect is a scheme whereby undelivered mail can be redirected at customer request to a post office for convenient collection. Poste restante mail can also be held for collection by people travelling.[58]

Other couriers

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Since March 2021, Post Office no longer works exclusively with Royal Mail Group and offers parcel services from third party couriers including Evri and DPD, at selected locations.[59]

Financial services

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Main article: Post Office Money

The Post Office provides credit cards, insurance products, mortgages, access to high street banking services and savings through the Post Office Money umbrella brand which was launched in 2015. Most Post Office Money branded products are provided by Bank of Ireland (UK) plc with Post Office Limited acting as an appointed representative and credit broker. However, with the sale of the Bank of Ireland's UK assets to Jaja Finance in 2019,[60] Post Office branded Credit Cards are now issued by Capital One UK.[61] Life insurance is provided in partnership with Neilson Financial Services [62]

Branch banking

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A mobile post office in Borrowby, North Yorkshire

Personal banking services are offered on behalf of a number of "partner banks" that the Post Office has agreements with. Although different services are available on behalf of different institutions, these may include cash withdrawals, paying in cash and cheques, and balance enquiries. Some post offices have cash machines, mainly provided by Bank of Ireland. Business banking services are also offered for customers of twenty different UK banks.[63]

Bill payments

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Post office in Corsham, Wiltshire

A number of bill payments can be accepted on behalf of a variety of organisations including utilities, local authorities and others. These are in the form of automated payments (barcoded bills, swipe cards, key charging). The Santander Transcash system, which had been a Girobank service, enabled manual bill payment transactions, but this service was discontinued by Santander in December 2017.[64]

Directory enquiries

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Post Office also runs its own flat-rate 118 Directory Enquiries service (118 855). Mobile phone top-ups are also available in Post Office branches on behalf of all the major UK mobile networks.[65]

ID services

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A passport check-and-send service is available for passport applications, where the post office staff check that a passport application is filled in correctly and has an acceptable photograph accompanying it. The service is not affiliated with HM Passport Office. Check-and-send service is not guaranteed service.[66] The Post Office also offer a photocard driving licence renewal service.[67]

Selected branches issue International Driving Permits. In 2019, availability of this service was expanded from 89 to approximately 2,500 branches due to increased demand associated with the possibility of a "no deal" Brexit.[68]

Horizon scandal

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Main article: British Post Office scandal

In April 2015, the BBC described a confidential report that alleged that the Post Office had made 'failings'[69] with regard to accounting issues with its Horizon IT system, which were identified by subpostmasters as early as 2000.[70][71] The article claimed that an independent investigation by forensic accountants Second Sight had found that the Post Office had failed to identify the root cause of accounting shortfalls in many cases before launching court proceedings against subpostmasters.[72] The shortfalls could have been caused by criminals using malicious software, by IT systems or by human error, the report said. An earlier article by the BBC had claimed that a confidential report contained allegations that the Post Office had refused to hand over documents that the accountants felt they needed to investigate properly, that training was not good enough, that equipment was outdated, and that power cuts and communication problems had made things worse.[73]

In 2019, the Post Office was lambasted by the High Court for its 'institutional obstinacy or refusal to consider' that its Horizon computer system might be flawed. The judge, Mr Justice Fraser, characterised this stance as "the 21st-century equivalent of maintaining that the earth is flat."[74] In spite of the court action against its subpostmasters, which was described by a judge as "aggressive and, literally, dismissive", the Post Office's chief executive Paula Vennells, who had in the meantime left the Post Office and taken up posts in the NHS and the Cabinet Office, was controversially awarded a CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours for "services to the Post Office and to charity".[75] On 19 March 2020 she was harshly criticised in the House of Commons, particularly by Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham, who said:[76]

Obviously, as a board member she knew what was going on, including the strategy in the court case and the bugs in the system. What happened? She got a CBE in the new year's honours list for services to the Post Office. That is just rubbing salt into the wounds of these innocent people. There is a case for her having that honour removed, and I would like to know how she got it in the first place when the court case is ongoing. Added to that, she is now chair of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Again, I would like to know why and what due diligence was done on her as an individual.

On 8 January 2024, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman said he would "strongly support" the Honours Forfeiture Committee if it decided to look at removing Vennells's CBE appointment. Vennells issued a statement on 9 January 2024, stating that she would "return my CBE with immediate effect".[77] This had no formal effect, as only the monarch, on the advice of the Honours Forfeiture Committee, can annul honours.[78][79] Vennells's appointment as CBE was formally revoked by King Charles III on 23 February for "bringing the honours system into disrepute".[80][81][82]

Arms

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Coat of arms of Post Office Limited
 
Adopted
1981
Crest
A lion sejant grasping in its dexter forepaw a caduceus in pale, Gold.
Escutcheon
Gules, billetty bendwise Argent and in fess four bezants
Supporters
Upon a compartment of grass Vert bisected palewise by water barry wavy Argent and Azure

are set for supporters on either side a pegasus Or crowned with an ancient crown and gorged with a collar Azure charged of four bezants.

Motto
CURA FIDE STUDIO[83]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Post Office Limited". Companies House. 13 August 1987. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  2. ^ Patel, Rina (18 July 2019). "New Group Chief Executive appointed". One Post Office. Post Office Limited.
  3. ^ "Post Office Limited Annual Report & Financial Statements 2022/23" (PDF). The Post Office. p. 96. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b Booth, Lorna. "Post Office Numbers" (PDF). UK Parliament. House of Commons Library. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Public Hearings Timeline". Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  6. ^ "The CCRC and Post Office / Horizon cases". Criminal Cases Review Commission. 3 January 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2024. The Post Office Horizon scandal, which is the subject of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, is the most widespread miscarriage of justice the CCRC has ever seen and represents the biggest single series of wrongful convictions in British legal history.
  7. ^ "Post Office scandal explained: What the Horizon saga is all about". 21 April 2021 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  8. ^ Johnston, Neil; Somerville, Ewan; Pinkstone, Joe (8 January 2024). "The Post Office bosses who presided over biggest miscarriage of justice in legal history". The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
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  12. ^ "PO Counters md goes to top Royal Mail post". Marketing Week. 19 April 1996. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  13. ^ "Post Office Inquiry: transcripts". 19 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  14. ^ Gow, David (16 August 2004). "I'll quit if we fail, says PO chief". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  15. ^ "David Mills Appointed CEO of Post Office Ltd and to Board of Consignia". Post & Parcel. Triangle. 14 February 2002. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  16. ^ Bold, Ben (18 November 2005). "Royal Mail seeks letters and Post Office chiefs". Campaign. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  17. ^ Gribben, Roland (4 January 2006). "Royal Mail recruits Premium Bonds guru". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  18. ^ "Royal Mail loses £200m as post bag shrinks". The Times. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008.
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  29. ^ Building a Mutual Post Office Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (retrieved 8 December 2012)
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  33. ^ "Post Office Mobile". Post Office. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
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  42. ^ Lea, Robert (15 January 2021). "Making the Post Office a complete package in new era of ecommerce". The Times. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  43. ^ Rai, Sharon (1 February 2021). "Post Office signs deal to sell Broadband and Home Phone business to Shell Energy". www.corporate.postoffice.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  44. ^ Kleinman, Mark (31 January 2021). "Shell dials up deal to connect with Post Office broadband arm". Sky News. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  45. ^ "Henry Staunton appointed as new chairman of Post Office Limited". GOV.UK. Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. 2 September 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  46. ^ Devlin, Ed (8 June 2022). "City Snapshot: WH Smith appoints new chairman to succeed Henry Staunton". The Grocer. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  47. ^ Kleinman, Mark (27 January 2024). "Post Office chairman Henry Staunton ousted amid row with government". Sky News. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  48. ^ Jolly, Jasper (17 April 2024). "Post Office chief Nick Read cleared of misconduct in separate inquiry". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  49. ^ "Post Office: Ex-Camelot boss Nigel Railton named as chairman". BBC News. 1 May 2024. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
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  54. ^ "Post Office® mobile service | Royal Mail Group Ltd". Royalmail.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  55. ^ "Mobile Post Office | A lifeline for small rural communities …". Flickr. 30 October 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  56. ^ "Post Office to send and receive Evri and DPD parcels". BBC News. 7 November 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  57. ^ "Parcel Collection Drop Off Service | Posting | Post Office®". www.postoffice.co.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
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  59. ^ Cambridge, Lyndsey (17 December 2020). "Post Office and Royal Mail no longer working in exclusive partnership under new deal". The Grocer. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  60. ^ "Bank of Ireland sells UK credit cards for £530 million". Reuters. 27 June 2019. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019.
  61. ^ "Credit Cards". www.postoffice.co.uk.
  62. ^ "Neilson Financial Services forms life insurance partnership with Post Office". Life Insurance International. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  63. ^ "Branch Business Banking". www.postoffice.co.uk.
  64. ^ "Post Office TransCash service being withdrawn". www.cipp.org.uk.
  65. ^ "Post Office launches directory enquiries service". The Guardian. 30 January 2006. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  66. ^ "Passport Check Send". Post Office. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  67. ^ "UK Driving License Photocard Renewal". Post Office. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  68. ^ Calder, Simon (1 February 2019). "British motorists must apply for 70-year-old permits to drive in EU after no-deal Brexit". The Independent. London. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  69. ^ "Post Office 'failings' over cash shortfall investigations". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  70. ^ Glick, Bryan (11 December 2019). "Vilified then vindicated - victory for subpostmasters in Post Office trial shows risk of tech hubris - Computer Weekly Editor's Blog". Computer Weekly. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  71. ^ "The Scandal that rocked a village Post Office". BBC Radio 4. 25 May 2020.
  72. ^ "Nick Wallis". Becarefulwhatyouwishfornickwallis.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
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  74. ^ "Post Office 'attacked and disparaged' sub postmasters, judge finds".
  75. ^ "Strictly business". Private Eye. London: Pressdram. 11 January 2019.
  76. ^ "Horizon Settlement: Future Governance of Post Office Ltd - Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  77. ^ Sparrow, Andrew (9 January 2024). "Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to hand back CBE with immediate effect in wake of Horizon scandal – UK politics live". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  78. ^ "Paula Vennells: Ex-Post Office boss handing back CBE over IT scandal". BBC News. 9 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  79. ^ "Having honours taken away (forfeiture)". GOV.UK. 30 September 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  80. ^ "Honours and Awards". The London Gazette. 23 February 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  81. ^ "List of individuals who have forfeited their honour (since August 2023)". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  82. ^ Media, P. A. (23 February 2024). "King strips CBE from former Post Office boss Paula Vennells". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  83. ^ "'Post Office Corporation'". 17 November 2021. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
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