BREAKING: Post Office confirms plans to shut 115 branches with 1,000 jobs at risk

The has confirmed plans to , in a move that puts 1,000 at risk of being cut.

The affected branches could be transferred to retail partners or postmasters, or potentially closed. The Post Office also confirmed that hundreds of further roles are under threat at its head office. Nigel Railton, chair of the Post Office, said the shake-up, which is subject to Government funding, would increase pay for postmasters by £250million over five years.

The made the announcement today as part of a five-year transformation programme for the struggling state-owned mail and financial services firm. The Post Office has 11,500 branches across the UK. , which first reported the closures this week, said the Government had been consulted on the plans.

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Mr Railton said: “The Post Office has a 360-year history of public service and today we want to secure that service for the future by learning from past mistakes and moving forward for the benefit of all postmasters. We can, and will, restore pride in working for a business with a legacy of service, rather than one of scandal.

“The value postmasters deliver in their communities must be reflected in their pockets, and this Transformation Plan provides a route to adding more than £250million annually to total postmaster remuneration by 2030, subject to government funding."

A spokesman for the Post Office said: “The plan intends to create a new operating model for the business that means ensuring the Post Office has the right organisational design.”

It comes as the public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal, which saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongfully convicted of stealing because of the defective Horizon computer system, continues this week. Giving evidence at the inquiry, Jonathan Reynolds, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, said “very significant changes” were needed to the Post Office business model.

He said: “I think, despite the scale of this scandal, the Post Office is still an incredibly important institution in national life. I look at the business model of the Post Office, and I think even accounting for the changes in the core services that are provided … there’s still a whole range of services that are really important. But I don’t think postmasters make sufficient remuneration from what the public want from the Post Office.”

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