Eight post offices in south Wales are "in limbo" because of controversial changes made by Post Office Ltd, according to a trade union. The National Federation of Sub-postmasters (NFSP) has released a list of 130 post offices at the centre of a row over exit payments.
The affected postmasters are on a 'hard-to-place list', which means there have been difficulties in finding a replacement to run their post office — often due to a rural location, declining footfall or "low remuneration", according to the NFSP. It said postmasters on the list were initially due to receive 26 months’ pay-out from Post Office Ltd as compensation to leave their business.
But the NFSP has accused the company of withdrawing this commitment and cutting the payment by more than half. A Post Office Ltd spokesperson said that with "limited funds" the company needs to "prioritise maintaining access in the areas our communities and customers need it most". The list of 130 affected post offices includes the following eight in south Wales:
- Blaengarw PO, The Strand, Bridgend
- Clydach Vale PO, 39 Wern Street, Tonypandy
- Gelli PO, 10-11 Tyisaf Road, Gelli, Pentre
- Ferndale PO, 59 High Street, Ferndale
- Machen PO, 24 Commercial Road, Machen, Caerphilly
- Phillipstown PO, 5 Derlwyn Road, New Tredegar
- Abersychan PO, Station Street, Pontypool
- Cwmavon PO, 5 Tyr Owen Row, Cwmavon, Port Talbot
The dispute has its roots in the Network Transformation (NT) programme which began in 2012 and saw postmasters offered an 18-month 'leaver's payment'. In 2014 this payment was increased to 26 months. Each postmaster had to decide by December 2015 whether they wished to convert to one of the new operating models or exit the network. Those who did not sign were asked to sign a conditional resignation form, enabling them to leave the network with their leaver's payment once a replacement postmaster was found.
But Post Office Ltd allegedly axed its team which had been dedicated to looking for replacements and then told the affected postmasters that the NT programme would cease in March 2025. The NFSP claims those postmasters have been "forced to agree" to a 12-month exit payment and are now "in limbo" as they wait "in vain" for someone to take over their business.
The union alleges that Post Office Ltd 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". In a letter to affected sub-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 £2.4billion 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' leaver's payment. Our question remains: what has happened to that ring-fenced money?”
A Post Office spokesperson responded: "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 endeavoured to keep these postmasters updated with regards to their options for remaining or leaving their role as a postmaster.
"We have asked these 130 postmasters to tell us how they would like to proceed with regards to their post office. 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."
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