Everyday Challenges Panel Discussion

The panel

Paul Anastassi, Post Office Ltd Interim Chief Technology Officer

Ross Borkett, Post Office Ltd Banking Director

Beth Foley, Citizens Advice Principal Policy Manager

Neill O’Sullivan, Post Office Ltd Managing Director, Parcels and Mails

Chair: Tim Boothman, NFSP Chair

The Everyday Challenges panel discussion provided delegates with the opportunity to raise questions on a range of operational topics, including banking, mails, and technology. Chair Tim Boothman opened the session by expressing thanks to members who had submitted questions in advance, noting that the initial questions chosen reflected the broad themes raised.

Mails segregation payments

North East member Sue Edgar asked the first question, which concerned payments and bonus payments for mails segregation. She pointed out that branches supported by the NFSP passed the target, while those supported by Post Office Ltd (PO) failed.

“Going forward, are you going to pay us the money that you should pay us, rather than give it to Royal Mail, who are marking their own homework,” Sue asked.

“Going forward, will you judge each branch on its own merits. We are working our socks off to segregate and do Royal Mail’s work. We can’t be left like that hanging, it’s not fair.”

Neill O’Sullivan, PO Managing Director for Parcels and Mails, said that payments were still under consideration.

“We have to review how segregation works,” he said. “Some people think segregation isn’t really worth the effort anyway, but others think it is.”

Further banking opportunities

Scottish member Paul McBain asked that with Banking Framework 4 beginning in January 2026, is there any new work coming to postmasters, for example, credit card payments, mini statements, saving cards withdrawals and transfers?

Ross Borkett, PO’s Banking Director, said the negotiations around Banking Framework 4 had concluded after two years.

“That deal was absolutely focused on maximising our opportunity in cash,” he said. “We were clear that we wanted a much longer-term arrangement – you all need more certainty running your businesses – that these services are going to continue, and that’s why we’ve secured a five-year deal from January.

“We also needed to make sure that we were paying you far more for doing those transactions.”

Ross said that PO rolled out 3,000 note counters and around 100 teller cash recyclers in branches, with another 6,000 note counters on their way.

“Our aim is to have some form of automation in every physical branch we have,” he said.

Digital services

Tim Allen asked to what extent does it provide communities with big problems when government forces people to go exclusively digital?

Beth Foley, Principal Policy Manager at Citizens Advice, said that it is something that Citizens Advice looks at closely: “We are the statutory consumer advocate for postal consumers, which means we use evidence that we gather as a research organisation, and we also look at the people who come to Citizens Advice day-to-day in our 300 local offices across the country,” she said.

“We’re using that evidence to talk to government, to talk to PO itself, and to talk to other elements of the industry, to think about how to improve that experience for consumers and to ensure post offices are meeting consumer needs.”

Beth said that in terms of the digital transition, this is an area that Citizens Advice has done a lot of work.

“We feel it’s the biggest potential for post offices and a key aspect of their social role at the moment,” she said.

Changes to Horizon?

Pulham Market postmaster Nick Thornton asked to what extent are PO or Fujitsu making changes to Horizon without informing postmasters?

Paul Anastassi, Interim Chief Technology Officer at PO, said there is a regular program of change that happens with the platform.

“Largely, it’s to safeguard software so that we don’t breach compliance, or something doesn’t become vulnerable, so we’re subject to potential issues around cyber-attacks or things operating in a way that is not expected,” Paul said.

“So that does happen, but this is done in conjunction with the teams in PO, so it doesn’t get done by Fujitsu without any of our guidance or oversight; it falls within our change programme, and we get to see all of that – nothing is done at all without our knowledge anymore.”

Promoting banking services

East Barkwith postmaster David Ward BEM said that banking facilities at post office counters remain a massive secret to the public. Why is PO not backing the banking service?

Ross said: “It is our best kept secret. We have just not spent money on marketing; we have not made people aware enough of what we do, and we are in the process of changing that.

“There’s a lot of work at the moment going into our plans for the rest of this year to really shout about what we are doing in-branch, and a key part of that is we are doing cash and banking, and that you can come in and use these services.”

Horizon discrepancies

South East member Alan Knight said that postmasters are still experiencing discrepancies, losses, and blue screens. He asked what assurances can members get from PO that investigations will continue?

Paul said that on Horizon, as it stands now, when issues like that occur, they must be investigated, and PO will continue to do that.

“As we move forward, Horizon will become a thing of the past,” Paul said. “The new system will be fully auditable, completely transparent, and even having said that, when there are discrepancies, there will still be recourse for us to investigate those services and those discrepancies, because we need to ensure that the transactions are accurate and validated.

“You’ve got absolutely my commitment that we’ll continue to do that regardless of which platform.”

Pillars of success

Pete Tyson referenced a PO presentation from day two that mentioned five key pillars with 17 sub-categories and 100 different projects, coupled with £300million of investment. He asked how PO is going to approach those 100 projects.

Paul said that he owns the transform technology and data pillar.

“In terms of the projects that sit underneath it, they may seem quite daunting, but they all roll up to one larger project, which we see from a technology perspective, and it’s very well planned out, very well marked, and it’s very well resourced to be able to deliver that,” he said.

“I have a lot of confidence that what we are trying to do is entirely achievable. It does seem like a lot of work, and it is a lot of work, but it is structured in a way that we can deliver it.”

Counterfeit notes

North East member Stuart Reddish asked if postmasters are being charged for taking counterfeit notes.

Ross said: “My understanding is that if you’re capturing counterfeit notes and you’re passing it back, we’re taking that loss back at the Cash Centre – some of these counterfeit notes are very good.

“I suspect if there’s lots and lots coming through in one branch, you’ll get some questions back from supply chain. One of the reasons that we’ve got to get these note counters out to you is we’re going to give you the devices to be able to try and pick up some of these fraudulent notes.”

Large letters up to 1kg

A question was asked when postmasters will be able to offer large letters up to 1kg over the counter to compete with the online business.

Neill said that he would come back on that.

No cheques from Lloyds

Lloyds has taken away the ability for customers to pay cheques in at branches. How soon do you think other banks may follow suit?

Ross said: “We had a very difficult set of negotiations with the banks, and one of the repercussions of that is that Lloyds decided that from January 2026, it will not continue using PO’s cheque service for their brands – Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland – which accounts for 0.25% of banking revenue.

“The good news is no other bank has followed. Everyone else has signed up for our cheque service, so no one else is leaving. They are locked in for the five years.”

The fear of more Banking Hubs

The future development of Banking Hubs was asked, and Ross said: “We’re not putting the hubs out there; the banks are choosing, through Cash Access, to put Banking Hubs into numerous communities, and we have the contract then to run those.

“We advertise Banking Hubs to the five nearest postmasters when they are announced, ideally, we would like the local postmaster to run it. I think over 90% of hubs that are being appointed are to a local postmaster.”