MP REACTS AGAINST POST OFFICE CLOSURE PLANS

Malcolm Moss MP learns of the proposed Post Office closures and seeks to challenge them in upcoming consultation

North East Cambridgeshire MP, Malcolm Moss, has this week learned of the proposed closures to Post Offices in North East Cambridgeshire. Two Post Offices are scheduled to close, Harecroft Road in Wisbech and St Peter’s Road in March. Malcolm will be visiting Harecroft Road Post Office on Friday 11^th July at the launch of the campaign to keep it open. A further three Post Offices are to be replaced with ‘outreach’ services.

Those three are the Post Office in Benwick which is to be replaced by an outreach service based in the pub for five hours a week. Christchurch which is to be closed and replaced by an outreach service van for five hours per week; and Little Downham Post Office having a similar arrangement.

Malcolm Moss will be challenging the proposed closures during the consultation period closing on 26^th August. He will be challenging the changes primarily on behalf of the elderly and those with restricted mobility who depend heavily on their local Post Offices.

Malcolm Moss MP said of the planned closures:

“I fear that some local communities across North East Cambridgeshire will lose their only shop and vulnerable people will lose a service they depended upon. Labour Ministers have taken no account of the needs of the elderly, of disabled people or of the most disadvantaged – the very ones who will lose out most as this cuts programme rolls out.”

The announced closures follow the recent controversy concerning the Post Office Card Account. The current Post Office Card Account contract ends in 2010. Gordon Brown’s Government is replacing it with a new contract (so-called ‘POCA2’), but due to EU rules, it has to put the new contract out to competitive tender. Conservatives have repeatedly called on the Government to continue the Card Account beyond 2010.

Conservatives repeatedly called on the Government to review the decision to abolish POCA, which is vital for people who do not have bank accounts. Under sustained pressure, the Government decided it would continue with a new account after 2010. It will be available nationally and customers will be eligible for the account on the same basis as they are now.

Malcolm Moss is concerned that the contract for the new account may not necessarily go to the Post Office, creating further uncertainty for many sub-postmasters.

Malcolm said:

‘I believe that, instead of managing decline, the Government should be trying to bring new business opportunities to the network. The bid by Post Office Ltd for the new POCA is particularly strong due to its existing network coverage.’

Card Account transactions bring in 12 per cent of sub-post offices’ income, and 1 in 4 of all visits made to post offices each week are by Card Account customers. The Federation has estimated that another 3,000 post offices will go out of business – on top of the current round of 2,500 cuts nationwide – if they lose the right to handle state pension and benefit payments.