PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Post Offices (4 September 2023)

Government sets the parameters for Post Office to operate in and asks its management to be responsible for running the company day-to-day. Post Office therefore has the freedom to make commercial decisions regarding the composition of its network, providing it fulfils the Government-set access criteria, which ensure that, for example, 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a post office.

Post Office CEO, Nick Read, has been clear that it’s the business’ ambition to operate the network on a fully franchised basis in time. Directly Managed Branches (also known as Crown branches) represent around 1% of the Post Office network.