Millions being hit by Post Office closures

21/07/2008

New research from Help the Aged shows that almost one third of older people (3.6 million) have seen their nearest post office close as a result of the programme of closures instigated by Post Office Ltd.  

 

Figures obtained by the leading older people’s charity also show that one fifth of older people (2.3 million) will need to travel at least half a mile to a mile further afield to find a replacement for their local closing branch.

 

The Charity believes older people, many with mobility problems, are not being given adequate consideration during the consultation process and as a result many will find accessing the network much more difficult in the future.

 

In May 2007, Post Office Ltd and the Government agreed that nearly one in five post office branches (2,500) should close. Since then the post office has pursued an aggressive round of closures and it is predicted 2,481 branches will be closed by the end of the programme. 

 

However, Help the Aged does not see this as a great success for the millions of older people losing a service they depend on. Older people are a primary customer base for the post office, with thousands collecting their pensions direct from their local post office each week.

 

Millions of older people are struggling with simple day to day tasks as a result of post office closures. Although nearly 100,000 pieces of correspondence have been sent in response to the public consultation and nearly 500 hours of meetings have taken place to save post offices, less than 4 per cent of branches originally marked for closure have been saved. In many of these cases the post office saved has simply resulted in the closure of another in the area.

 

Dr Alan Burnett, Senior Policy Officer for Help the Aged, says: 

“Older people feel very strongly about this issue. When you have a mobility problem or difficulty getting around, a journey extended by only half a  mile is not a simple matter of a little more exercise - it is almost a complete removal of the service.

 

“Older people are contacting us to say they feel ignored by the consultation process. It’s beginning to seem as if the Post Office is merely paying lip service to government consultation regulations and not really listening to the valuable local information being given to them.

 

“With each new closure, the post office has proposed a number of measures including improvements to the remaining branches and extension of out-reach services. It is vital these measures are properly thought through and introduced immediately to prevent the very real hardship these closures will cause older people.”

 

Help the Aged considers it of the utmost importance that older people get involved with what remains of this closure programme and continue to give the post office the local information that will allow the right decisions to be made.

 

Dr Alan Burnett concludes: “If older people are not listened to, and there needs are not taken into account, the consequences for many will be extremely serious.”