Nus Ghani has welcomed the government announcement that £370 million of funding will be made available to the Post Office for the period between April 2018 and March 2021. This will secure the future of the Post Office and enable it to continue to invest in its network, products and meeting the changing needs of customers.
£210 million is to be invested in the modernisation of the UK’s Post Office Network so it can continue to provide essential services. The Post Office will also be working to bring additional benefits to customers, such as extended opening hours, modernised branches and shorter queue times.
A further £160 million will be used to protect ‘last shop in the village’ community branches and ensure that everyone continues to have access to a local Post Office branch. The Post Office network has grown for the second year running in 2017, with 99.7 per cent of people living within 3 miles of their local post office and the number of rural branches rising to 6,185.
The extra funding for the Post Office will also help to improve the availability of banking services to SMEs and families, especially those in rural areas. Today 99 per cent of UK personal bank customers and 95 per cent of small business customers can access day-to-day banking services in their local Post Office branch and last year the Post Office helped customers to carry out 110 million banking transactions – which amounts to an average of 200 per minute.
The funding announcement comes as the Post Office reached the important milestone of having moved into profit in 2017, for the first time in 16 years. This indicates that the Post Office is well on its way to becoming a sustainable and successful business and less reliant on government subsidies.
Commenting on the announcement, Ms Ghani said: “The festive season is the Royal Mail’s busiest period as millions of people across the country shop for gifts and send Christmas cards and parcels.
I would like to thank the hard working postmen and women in Wealden for the hard work they do all year round, as well as for going the extra mile to ensure that Christmas cards and presents are delivered to loved ones on time.
As a Member of Parliament, I work hard to support local branches of the Post Office and have campaigned alongside local residents and Withyham Parish Council in securing the Post Office at the newsagents in Groombridge.
Local post offices form the heart of so many local communities, with many people relying on their local branch in order to access important services. Indeed, The Association of Convenience Stores’ Local Shop Report 2017 found that post offices have the most positive impact on a local area of any type of shop. At a time when our high streets our changing, the Government is working hard to ensure that Post Offices remain on our high streets.
It is gratifying to see that the Post Office is the most stable it has been in decades, following the £2 billion that has been invested in it by the Conservative government since 2010. This extra funding for the Post Office will guarantee that its future is safeguarded and will enable it to continue to adapt to meet the needs of customers.”