Post Office closures: Union backlash over proposed job cuts – as ‘transformation plan’ revealed
A union representing Post Office staff has lashed out at proposals that could result in 115 branch closures and significantly more than 1,000 workers losing their jobs, by describing them as “immoral”.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) signalled a fight ahead as the Post Office confirmed details of its transformation plan – first revealed by Sky News on Tuesday – that aims to boost postmaster pay by £250m over five years.
The embattled firm’s initial statement failed to mention threats to employment at its head office and within 115 larger “crown” branches.
While its wider proposals aim to place postmasters at the heart of the government-owned business in the wake of the Horizon IT scandal, it was later confirmed that 1,000 roles at the crown sites were at risk.
These large branches are owned by the Post Office.
Revealed: The full list of 115 Post Offices at risk of closure
A franchise model was being considered as an alternative.
The potential closure of these sites is another option. While such a move would cut costs, it would also spread business to nearby branches run by sub-postmasters.
A cost-cutting drive would also see hundreds of head office roles go.
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Redress for Post Office victims
But the CWU boss, Dave Ward suggested the business, and the government, would have a fight on its hands, describing the decision as “tone deaf as it is immoral” in the wake of the IT scandal that saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly jailed and struggle in their fight to secure redress and compensation.
“CWU members are victims of the Horizon scandal – and for them to now fear for their jobs ahead of Christmas is yet another cruel attack”, he said.
“While we are in the middle of a government review of the Post Office’s future, the employer has embarked on its own strategic review.
“It seems the Post Office has learned no lessons from its chaotic and uncoordinated mistakes of the past.
“We call on the Post Office to immediately halt these planned closures and the attached consultations – which, historically, have been nothing but playing lip service – and engage with the CWU on protecting jobs and services.
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Former Post Office boss apologises to sub-postmasters
“We also call on the government to intervene over this shambolic decision.”
The five-year transformation plan, which includes an effort to double revenues for postmasters over five years, was initiated in May by the Post Office’s new chairman Nigel Railton who ordered a strategic review.
He told staff on Wednesday that postmasters could expect up to £120m in additional remuneration by the end of the first year of the plan, representing a 30% increase in revenue share – tackling long-held complaints about poor rewards for postmasters’ work.
Promises of less red tape and a better voice in decision-making were also included.
Mr Railton succeeded Henry Staunton – sacked by-then business secretary Kemi Badenoch in January – and was under immediate pressure to set a new path for the scandal-hit business that served postmasters rather than itself.
Mr Railton said: “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. We can, and will, restore pride in working for a business with a legacy of service, rather than one of scandal.
“The value postmasters deliver in their communities must be reflected in their pockets, and this Transformation Plan provides a route to adding more than £250m annually to total postmaster remuneration by 2030, subject to government funding.
“It begins a new phase of partnership during which we will strengthen the postmaster voice in the day-to-day running and operations of the business, so they are represented from the frontline to the boardroom.”
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Ministers to mutualise Post Office
Further changes being considered by ministers include potentially handing ownership of the Post Office to sub-postmasters, as revealed by Sky News last month.
Such an employee-owned model, known as a mutual, would be comparable in the private sector to that of the John Lewis Partnership – the owner of Waitrose supermarkets and the eponymous department store chain.
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Chris Head, once the youngest sub-postmaster in the UK but who lost everything when he was wrongly accused of theft as part of the Horizon scandal, welcomed the prospect of a widespread shake-up.
He said of the plan to deliver more revenue: “We must ensure that a large proportion of that ends up with postmasters to bolster their poor remuneration levels whilst at the same time innovating for the future to develop more products and services for customers in order to drive footfall into branches.
“There must be a commitment from government to help deliver this and the end goal being mutualisation for a successful future.”
Mr Head added that the prospect of head office job cuts in the months ahead was good news, saying: “Post Office has always been a top heavy organisation and that needs to change going forward to make it more efficient.”
Santander is to buy TSB, becoming the UK’s third biggest bank in the process.
Once completed, the combined bank will have the third-largest number of personal account balances in the UK, and be fourth in terms of mortgage lending, with a total of nearly 28 million customers, Santander said.
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The deal is still subject to approval by regulators and shareholders of TSB’s parent company, Banco Sabadell, but is expected to conclude in the first three months of 2026.
It could mean the TSB brand is no longer visible on the high street, as Santander said it “intends to integrate TSB in the Santander UK group”.
Job losses may also result.
Santander‘s interest in tabling a bid for TSB was first reported by Sky News.
TSB has five million customers, offers business and personal accounts, and is the UK’s tenth largest lender for mortgages and deposits. After cutting jobs and branches last year, it currently employs roughly 5,000 staff and operates 175 branches, the seventh largest network in the UK.
It comes just months after speculation that Santander would leave the UK market, despite denials from the Spanish-owned lender.
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In recent months, it had rejected takeover attempts from rivals NatWest and Barclays.
Barclays had also bid for TSB.
Banco Sabadell said it was selling TSB “to focus our strategy on Spain”, its chief executive, Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno, said.
Santander has agreed to pay an initial £2.65bn for TSB, with the final price expected to rise to £2.9bn when yet-to-be-announced financial results are factored in.
The price is 1.5 times the value of TSB’s assets.
“This is an excellent deal for customers, combining two strong and complementary banks, creating one of the most substantial banks in the UK and materially enhancing the competitiveness of the industry,” said Mike Regnier, CEO of Santander UK.
A major component within household energy bills is set to rise sharply from next year to help pay for efforts to maintain energy security during the transition to green power.
The industry regulator Ofgem’s draft determination on how much it will allow network operators to charge energy suppliers from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2031 would push up network costs within household bills by £24 a year.
These charges currently account for 22% of the total bill.
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The findings, which will be subject to consultation before a final determination by the end of the year, reflect demands on network operators to make power and gas networks fit for the future amid expansion in renewable and nuclear energy to meet net zero ambitions.
Ofgem says the plans it has given provisional approval for amount to a £24bn investment programme over the five-year term – a four-fold increase on current levels.
A total of 80 major projects includes upgrades to more than 2,700 miles of overhead power lines.
If rubber stamped as planned, the resulting network cost increases threaten further upwards pressure on bills from next April – a month that has now become synonymous with rising essential bills.
The watchdog revealed its plans as the 22 million British households on the energy price cap benefit from the first decline for a year.
It is coming down from an annual average £1,849 between April and June to £1,720 from July to September.
That’s on the back of easing wholesale costs seen during the spring – before the temporary surge in wholesale gas prices caused by the recent instability in the Middle East.
A new forecast released by industry specialist Cornwall Insight suggested households were on track to see a further, but slight, decline when the cap is adjusted again in October.
At the current level it is 28% lower than at the height of the energy-led cost of living crisis – but 10% higher than the same period last year.
The price cap does not limit total bills because householders still pay for the amount of energy they consume.
Ofgem is continuing to recommend consumers shop around for fixed rate deals in the market as they can offer savings compared with the price cap and shield homes from any price shocks seen within their fixed terms.
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Jonathan Brearley, the regulator’s chief executive, said: ”Britain’s reliance on imported gas has left us at the mercy of volatile international gas prices which during the energy crisis would have caused bills to rise as high as £4,000 for an average household without government support.
“Even today the price cap can move up or down by hundreds of pounds with little we can do about it.
“This record investment will deliver a homegrown energy system that is better for Britain and better for customers. It will ensure the system has greater resilience against shocks from volatile gas prices we don’t control.
“These 80 projects are a long-term insurance policy against threats to Britain’s energy security and the instability of prices. By bringing online dozens of homegrown, renewable generation sites and modernising our energy system to the one we will need in the future we can boost growth and give ourselves more control over prices too.
“Doing nothing is not an option and will cost consumers more – this is critical national infrastructure. The sooner we build the network we need, and invest to strengthen our resilience, the lower the cost for bill payers will be in the future.”
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