Post Office management could be told to cede control to sub-postmasters

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.talkingretail.com/news/indu ... 1-10-2024/

The government is considering handing ownership of the Post Office to its sub-postmasters across the UK.

In a widely reported move, it is understood that the Department for Business and Trade has asked a management consultancy, BCG, to explore a mutualisation model for Post Office ownership and management.

This would turn the Post Office into an employee-owned mutual organisation, in the same way as retailer John Lewis.

Sub-postmasters are responsible for the everyday running of nearly 12,000 post offices across the UK and were the main victims of the Horizon computer scandal.

The move to explore mutualisation of the Post Office would be a historic shake-up at the 364-year-old institution.

It follows an announcement by the last government that it wanted to “address the imbalance” between sub-postmasters and the Post Office by looking at a mutual structure.

In April, the Conservative minister for postal affairs, Kevin Hollinrake, met union officials and representatives of the co-operative movement to talk about the possibility of mutualisation.

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the flawed Horizon IT accounting system made it look like money was going missing from branches.

The Horizon scandal has been widely acknowledged to be one of the UK’s largest miscarriages of justice, especially in terms of the numbers of people directly affected.

Hundreds of sub-postmasters took legal action against the Post Office in 2019, led by Sir Alan Bates – some are still waiting for compensation.