The Post Office has unveiled plans for scores more job cuts as part of a transformation plan aimed at boosting payouts for thousands of sub-postmasters.

Sky News has learnt the state-owned company was in the process of informing about 100 senior managers on Wednesday that their roles would be affected by its proposals.

Some of those individuals are expected to see their jobs disappear, although the precise number was unclear.

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The changes represent the latest phase of an overhaul outlined by chairman Nigel Railton last November, in which he said he wanted to add £250m annually to Post Office sub-postmaster remuneration.

“The Post Office has a 360-year history of public service and today we want to secure that service for the future by learning from past mistakes and moving forward for the benefit of all postmasters,” Mr Railton said at the time.

“We can, and will, restore pride in working for a business with a legacy of service, rather than one of scandal.”

The Post Office has been engulfed in crisis since the scale of the Horizon IT scandal became clear, with hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted for theft and fraud offences.

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Brought to a wider public audience by the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, it has been labelled Britain’s biggest miscarriage of justice.

Many of those affected suffered ill health, marital breakdowns or died before they were exonerated.

Former chief executive Paula Vennells, who insisted for years that the Horizon system was robust, was effectively stripped of her damehood in disgrace last year.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has asked BCG, the management consultancy, to examine options for mutualising the Post Office, with further details expected to become clear this year.

A Post Office spokesman declined to comment on Wednesday morning.

The government supports a third runway at Heathrow, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced.

Ms Reeves said the expansion of Europe’s busiest airport was “badly needed” to connect the UK to the world and open up new opportunities for growth.

A third runway will “unlock further growth, boost investment increase exports and make the UK more open and more connected”, she said.

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It could increase potential GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by 0.43% by 2050 according to a Frontier Economics study, she said. 60% of that boost would go to areas outside London and the southeast, increasing trade opportunities like Scotch whiskey and Scottish salmon, she added.

Ms Reeves said an expansion could create more than 100,000 jobs.

The announcement has been welcomed by some business groups but has been met with anger from London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan, the Lib Dems, the Green Party and environmental groups.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told Sky News over the weekend she supports a third runway.

As part of a speech on funding infrastructure across the UK to promote growth, Ms Reeves said: “Persistent delays have caused doubts about our seriousness towards improving our economic prospects.”

She added that business groups like the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the Chambers of Commerce (BCC), as well as trade unions “are clear – a third runway is badly needed”.

Investments in green aviation fuel

Ms Reeves said the UK is “already making great strides in transitioning to cleaner and greener aviation” and announced the government is investing £63m over the next year into the Advanced Fuel Fund grant programme to support the development of sustainable aviation fuel production plants.

The government will be accepting proposals until the summer and will then carry out a “full assessment” through the Airport National Policy Statement to “ensure a third runway is delivered in line with our legal, environmental and climate objectives”.

Ms Reeves said the government expects any associated surface transport costs to the third runway’s construction to be be financed through private funding.

She added a decision on plans to expand Gatwick and Luton, which are currently under way, will be made by the transport secretary “shortly”.

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A decades-old debate

The debate around whether Europe’s busiest airport should expand has been circling over British politics for decades.

Ms Reeves‘s decision will likely put her at odds with Climate Secretary Ed Miliband, who has said airport expansions will not go ahead if they cannot meet climate targets.

However, he said last week he would not resign if the government approved a third runway despite threatening to resign from Gordon Brown’s cabinet as climate change secretary in 2009 over the plans and in 2018 he said an expansion was “very likely” to make air pollution worse.

He has now said the government can meet both its growth and net zero missions together.

London mayor opposes runway

Sadiq Khan said he remained opposed to a third runway “because of the severe impact it will have on noise, air pollution and meeting our climate change targets”.

He said he will carefully scrutinise any new proposals, “including the impact it will have on people living in the area and the huge knock-on effects for our transport infrastructure”.

“Despite the progress that’s been made in the aviation sector to make it more sustainable, I’m simply not convinced that you can have hundreds of thousands of additional flights at Heathrow every year without a hugely damaging impact on our environment,” he added.

Green Party MP Sian Berry said expanding airports “in the face of a climate emergency is the most irresponsible announcement from any government I have seen since the Liz Truss budget”.

Conservative shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused Ms Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer and “their job-destroying budget” of being “the biggest barriers to growth”.

“What’s worse, the anti-growth chancellor could not rule out coming back with yet more tax rises in March,” he added.

“This is a Labour government run by politicians who do not understand business, or where wealth comes from. Under new leadership, the Conservatives will continue to back businesses and hold this government to account.”

Lloyds Banking Group is to close a further 136 branches.

Britain’s biggest mortgage lender said it will shut 61 Lloyds, 61 Halifax, and 14 Bank of Scotland sites between May this year and March 2026.

All workers affected by the closures would be offered alternative roles, the group said.

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A list of the affected branches, with their expected closure date:

Lloyds

• Lloyds Biggleswade – 05/11/2025
• Lloyds Bishop Auckland – 08/05/2025
• Lloyds Blandford – 10/11/2025
• Lloyds Bolton Farnworth – 28/05/2025
• Lloyds Bridgnorth – 20/05/2025
• Lloyds Brigg – 05/03/2026
• Lloyds Bristol Bishopsworth – 06/11/2025
• Lloyds Bristol Clifton – 21/05/2025
• Lloyds Bristol Patchway – 28/05/2025
• Lloyds Bromsgrove – 07/05/2025
• Lloyds Bury – 21/10/2025
• Lloyds Cardiff Whitchurch – 29/05/2025
• Lloyds Caterham – 05/03/2026
• Lloyds Chard – 11/11/2025
• Lloyds Coventry Foleshill – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds Dorchester – 19/06/2025
• Lloyds Dunstable – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds East Grinstead – 12/11/2025
• Lloyds Falmouth – 13/11/2025
• Lloyds Feltham – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds Ferndown – 17/11/2025
• Lloyds Fulham – 27/05/2025
• Lloyds Glossop – 09/03/2026
• Lloyds Godalming – 29/05/2025
• Lloyds Herne Bay – 21/05/2025
• Lloyds Hexham – 05/11/2025
• Lloyds Hornchurch Station Lane – 11/09/2025
• Lloyds Houghton le Spring – 10/03/2026
• Lloyds Hucknall – 04/03/2026
• Lloyds Kidderminster – 16/10/2025
• Lloyds Launceston – 12/05/2025
• Lloyds Leeds Crossgates – 20/08/2025
• Lloyds Leominster – 18/11/2025
• Lloyds Leyland – 08/05/2025
• Lloyds Liverpool Breck Rd – 04/03/2026
• Lloyds Loughton – 12/11/2025
• Lloyds Louth – 07/05/2025
• Lloyds Ludlow – 20/05/2025
• Lloyds Manchester Moston – 11/03/2026
• Lloyds Manchester Newton Heath – 05/11/2025
• Lloyds Margate – 14/05/2025
• Lloyds Pembroke Dock – 26/06/2025
• Lloyds Peterlee Yoden Way – 03/03/2026
• Lloyds Plymstock – 04/11/2025
• Lloyds Pontardawe – 19/11/2025
• Lloyds Pontyclun – 12/05/2025
• Lloyds Prudhoe – 15/05/2025
• Lloyds Rayleigh – 20/05/2025
• Lloyds Seaton – 11/03/20265
• Lloyds Sheffield Woodhouse – 11/11/2025
• Lloyds Shipston-on-Stour – 11/11/2025
• Lloyds Sleaford – 12/03/2026
• Lloyds Southall – 15/10/2025
• Lloyds Southsea – 02/06/2025
• Lloyds Stoke-on-Trent – 30/10/2026
• Lloyds Thornbury Avon – 26/02/2026
• Lloyds Tooting – 08/10/2025
• Lloyds Tunstall – 09/03/2026
• Lloyds Walthamstow – 22/10/2025
• Lloyds Welwyn Garden City – 11/06/2025
• Lloyds Wymondham – 12/03/2026

Halifax

• Halifax Balham – 22/05/2025
• Halifax Bangor (N Ireland) – 29/05/2025
• Halifax Barrow in Furness – 10/09/2025
• Halifax Bexleyheath – 23/10/2025
• Halifax Birmingham Bearwood – 02/03/2026
• Halifax Blackpool Lytham Road – 29/10/2025
• Halifax Bolton – 20/11/2025
• Halifax Brentwood – 10/09/2025
• Halifax Bromsgrove – 29/05/2025
• Halifax Cannon Street – 28/05/2025
• Halifax Carmarthen – 06/10/2025
• Halifax Castleford – 08/09/2025
• Halifax Cirencester – 25/09/2025
• Halifax Clapham Junction – 23/09/2025
• Halifax Crewe – 14/10/2025
• Halifax Derby East St – 23/10/2025
• Halifax Eltham – 29/10/2025
• Halifax Epsom – 15/09/2025
• Halifax Erdington – 24/09/2025
• Halifax Felixstowe – 02/06/2025
• Halifax Fleetwood – 25/06/2025
• Halifax Folkestone – 09/10/2025
• Halifax Fulham – 08/05/2025
• Halifax Gainsborough – 02/06/2025
• Halifax Hayes – 06/10/2025
• Halifax Hexham – 05/11/2025
• Halifax Horsforth – 24/02/2025
• Halifax Hove – 20/10/2025
• Halifax Huntingdon – 15/05/2025
• Halifax Kingsbury – 02/06/2025
• Halifax Kingswood – 08/10/2025
• Halifax Launceston – 03/06/2025
• Halifax Leek – 04/06/2025
• Halifax Letchworth – 03/06/2025
• Halifax London Strand – 08/05/2025
• Halifax Long Eaton – 18/09/2025
• Halifax Mold – 16/10/2025
• Halifax Nelson – 04/03/2026
• Halifax Northwich – 03/09/2025
• Halifax Omagh – 19/05/2025
• Halifax Peterlee – 03/03/2026
• Halifax Pontypridd – 15/07/2025
• Halifax Rayleigh – 20/05/2025
• Halifax Rhyl – 23/09/2025
• Halifax Richmond (Surrey) – 16/09/2025
• Halifax Sittingbourne – 15/10/2025
• Halifax Skegness – 03/09/2025
• Halifax Sleaford – 06/11/2025
• Halifax Southport – 07/10/2025
• Halifax St Annes – 12/06/2025
• Halifax St Austell – 13/05/2025
• Halifax Stevenage Queensway – 06/01/2026
• Halifax Telford – 22/10/2025
• Halifax Walkden – 25/09/2025
• Halifax Wallasey – 04/09/2025
• Halifax Waltham Cross – 27/05/2025
• Halifax Welwyn Garden City – 11/06/2025
• Halifax Wickford – 10/11/2025
• Halifax Wilmslow – 19/05/2025
• Halifax Winton – 01/10/2025
• Halifax Woolwich – 01/10/2025

Bank of Scotland

• Bank of Scotland Alexandria – 02/03/2026
• Bank of Scotland Annan – 02/03/2026
• Bank of Scotland Barrhead – 21/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Bishopbriggs – 21/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Corstorphine West – 29/10/2025
• Bank of Scotland Edinburgh Wester Hailes – 27/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Helensburgh – 05/03/2026
• Bank of Scotland Kirkintilloch – 22/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Moffat – 29/10/2025
• Bank of Scotland Peebles – 27/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Pitlochry – 30/10/2025
• Bank of Scotland Sanquhar – 28/05/2025
• Bank of Scotland Thornhill – 03/11/2025
• Bank of Scotland Uddingston – 22/05/2025

Lloyds blamed the move on customers shifting away from banking in person to using online services, meaning there is less need for physical sites.

It made the announcement just weeks after taking the decision to allow its customers to access on-site services across any of the group’s branded branches.

Lloyds also revealed the planned closure of two major offices – in Liverpool and Dunfermline – affecting more than 1,000 staff.

A spokesperson said: “Over 20 million customers are using our apps for on-demand access to their money and customers have more choice and flexibility than ever for their day-to-day banking.

“Alongside our apps, customers can also use telephone banking, visit a community banker or use any Halifax, Lloyds or Bank of Scotland branch, giving access to many more branches.

“Customers can also do their everyday banking at over 11,000 branches of the Post Office or in a Banking Hub.”

The UK’s big banking brands have been shutting branches at pace since the fallout from the financial crisis in 2008 which sparked a rush to cut costs.

The uptake of digital banking services has seen more than 6,000 sites go to the wall since 2015, according to the consumer group Which?

The closure plan revealed on Wednesday will bring the Lloyds brand down to 386 branches, Halifax down to 281 branches and Bank of Scotland to 90 branches once completed.

Campaigners have long argued that the rate of closures has been too quick to allow alternatives, such as banking hubs, to fill the void.

The elderly are least likely to bank online while rural communities have been particularly hard hit through the loss of banking services altogether.

Banking hubs are physical sites where services are shared.

As of September 2024, there were 76 across the UK though that number was set to more than double within months, according to Cash Access UK.