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Calum Greenhow's Comment: Postmasters must unite to tackle key issues and protect postal services

Jan 30, 2025 |

I had the privilege of attending the Senedd, which is the devolved Parliament in Wales, with a group of postmaster colleagues on Wednesday. It was very encouraging to see such an experienced, knowledgeable and passionate group of postmasters explain to an engaged group of Members of the Senedd (MSs) the issues and concerns postmasters face across Wales. 

This is the second time we have hosted an event within the Senedd, and the level of engagement has grown. Topics of discussion covered postmasters’ remuneration against inflation, business rates, the level of government support, the importance of the network especially within rural communities, Banking Hubs, including the need for additional banking work and share of income received by Post Office Ltd (PO), and the need for proper governance of the business in light of the Horizon scandal. I would like to thank the postmasters who attended for taking the time from their offices to raise the profile of the network.

The importance of postmasters working together for the collective benefit isn’t just within the Senedd but is also required in terms of Royal Mail’s (RM) desire to have changes to the Universal Service Obligation (USO) that could have significant impact on the viability of the network. This was debated by Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning and an article in The Guardian today highlights Ofcom saying RM should cut second-class delivery.

Research by PO has shown that if delivery days are reduced, 75% of postmasters believe it could have a large or extremely large impact on their post office business and 64% believe it would have a significant impact on their non-post office business.

This is in response to RM’s trial that affect certain areas of the country where second class deliveries would be reduced to every other day Monday to Friday, with business mail reduced to a delivery time of three working days rather than two. The trial is to affect around one million homes and small businesses. RM believe this will protect the sustainability of the USO and they hope that it will convince Ofcom, as the regulator, to approve these changes on a permanent basis.

The NFSP has been working with a number of concerned business sectors, who believe this is the tin edge of the wedge and encourage Ofcom to protect the USO as a social service that is vital to many disadvantaged groups. The NFSP believes that rather than cutting the USO to improve RM’s profits, they should look to generate savings via efficiencies and also improve quality of service, which has resulted in several fines over recent years.

When I took over my office in 1995, the price of a 1st class stamp was 25p and if you add inflation over that time period, the price of a 1st class stamp should now be 49p not £1.65. This means that the cost of a 1st class stamp has risen by more than three times the rate of inflation, yet the quality of service has reduced. Added, we can see that when the price of stamps increases, it has a direct link on letter volumes.

With that in mind, the NFSP is supporting the Greeting Card Association’s petition which seeks to ensure

  • At least one delivery of letters every Monday to Saturday to every UK address
  • At least one collection of letters every day Monday to Saturday
  • Affordable, geographically uniform prices throughout the UK for the service of conveying postal packets from one place to another

The petition also calls for parliamentary scrutiny to take place on any change to the USO, that new regulation be introduced to avoid further above inflation price rises on 1st class mail and for RM to maintain a national, affordable and reliable postal service that supports high streets and communities across the UK.

One aspect the NFSP are suggesting is that the parcel side of Royal Mail can be sold off and to renationalise the letters business. This then could be operated by PO as a social service under the USO.

As such, the NFSP is asking postmasters to display the posters and to talk to your customers to encourage them to sign the petition so that communities, customers, businesses and the post office network are not disadvantaged by RM’s drive for profits over accuracy of performance.

Yours,

Calum

Click here to download the poster to display in your post office

Tags: Communication, Media, Policies, Post Office