Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the sustainability of the Post Office Local business model in which postmasters are obliged to cover all business overheads but are not necessarily able to cover their employee’s wages.

Assessing the sustainability of its business models is the operational responsibility of Post Office Limited.

The Post Office’s Local business model allows the hosting businesses to improve their retail offer, by removing the need for a fortress counter to free up space in the shop to sell other items, and by integrating the post office counter into the main retail counter enabling efficiencies in running the store.

There are over 3,800 Local model post offices operating across the UK. Host retailers will also benefit from the associated footfall into the branch and Postmasters who have converted to the Local model have reported an average increase of 11% in their associated retail sales.