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Post Office postmasters have been left in a “vulnerable” position after being placed on the Hard to Place list and having their promised payout reduced. The business owners in Epsom and Richmond were put on the Hard to Place list, after struggling to find someone to take over the business.
Now, as they either look to a different career path or to retire, postmasters were promised a pay out of 26 months after leaving, if they were unable to find a replacement. However, workers have now been told they will only receive 12 months pay.
The hard to place scheme was launched in 2011, and postmasters were offered 18 months payout. It was then increased to 26 months in 2014 but postmasters had to either convert to a new operating model, the Network Transformation programme, or exit the network, when they could then get their leavers payment once a new postmaster had been found. Between 2011 and 2023, over 7,900 Post Office branches were modernised under the Network Transformation Programme across the UK.
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As of 2025, the Network Transformation programme will no longer exist, meaning current postmasters will need to accept a 12 month payment. Postmasters were given the following three options:
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Continue trading on their existing contracts, including retaining substantial fixed remuneration payments which are no longer available to other branches.
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Convert to a new style contract, which is based on fully variable remuneration but with an upfront compensation payment worth 12 months’ remuneration and investment to modernise their branch.
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Leave the network with an exit payment worth 12 months’ remuneration.
The Post Office said: “Postmasters were issued six months to choose between these options. Any branches where a new replacement operator is secured during this period will still have the opportunity to leave under the previous scheme arrangements, i.e. with 26 months’ worth of remuneration.”
A spokesperson from the Post Office said: “Following a programme that first started over a decade ago, there are around 130 Post Offices, out of a network of over 11,500 branches today, that constitute a hard to place branch. Under the programme’s arrangements, agreed with the Government of the time, postmasters who wanted to leave the network were only entitled to an exit payment if and when a replacement branch was found.
“We have provided these postmasters with three different options to consider and they have six months to tell us how they would like to proceed. We have dedicated colleagues able to support and provide advice on their options. We fully recognise that for these postmasters this is a difficult time, but with limited funds we need to ensure we prioritise maintaining access in the areas our communities and customers need it most.”
The National Federation of SubPostmasters (NFSP) said that it has worked to: “Highlight the error in Post Office’s decision on numerous occasions, but the state-owned company has refused to accept that its offer of 12 months, may leave colleagues with very little remaining after they pay tax, leases or mortgages, staff redundancies, and other associated costs such as clearing the Post Office counter from the premises.
“The NFSP states that the Post Office’s push for this option is because they do not want to fund the transfer of HtP postmasters onto the new IT (NBit) system. The NFSP believes that this decision is morally wrong, as it may deprive many colleagues of funds to ease their financial position through retirement.”
In a recent letter to those affected postmasters, NFSP Chief Executive Calum Greenhow wrote: “Post Office are willing to treat postmasters today in the same manner in which they treated them throughout the Horizon scandal.”
“Government consistently state that they have provided funding to the Post Office of £2.4bn via the NT process, which should have included ring-fenced funds to allow all those colleagues from 2015 to exit the network with 26 months Leavers Payment. Our question remains, what has happened to that ring-fenced money?”
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