Post Office could be owned by its workers, government says

The Post Office has already announced it is shifting its last remaining standalone shops to the franchise model that the majority are run on, which grants franchise-holders the right to offer Post Office services alongside other retail services.

However, depending on the results of the consultation, there could be a further shake-up to the ownership structure, as the government seeks ways to turn the business around.

Last year, the Post Office minister told parliament nearly half of branches were not profitable or made only a small profit from Post Office business. That has led to a stagnation in pay for postmasters.

The idea of making the Post Office a co-operative organisation was raised in 2012 after it was split from the Royal Mail, the service that delivers post to the door.

Many smaller businesses operate on some kind of shared-ownership model, but the most well-known larger UK businesses that are run that way are the John Lewis Partnership and the Co-operative.

In mutually-run organisations, staff are more closely involved with decision-making and have a greater stake in the performance of the business.

The government said switching to a mutual model would be “complex, time consuming and potentially expensive” and said any such changes would have to wait until the Post Office had achieved “financial and operational stability”.

However, it floated two alternatives for longer term change:

Proponents of mutualising the Post Office argue that the Horizon scandal would not have happened had staff been part of the management.

Neil Brocklehurst, the Post Office’s chief executive, said the Green Paper offered “a once-in-a-decade opportunity to have a national conversation about the future of our post offices and their role in supporting communities across the UK”.