MSP Welcomes Postwatch Report on Rural POs

Local SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson has welcomed the publication of a report by the postal services watchdog Postwatch into the social and economic significance of Post Offices in rural Scotland.

The future of the rural post office network is under threat as the Government considers this autumn whether to continue to pay the £150 million a year subsidy needed in order to operate a rural post office network.

Mr Stevenson said:

“This report selected some of the most rural areas in Scotland to study, and reached some valuable conclusions.  Most importantly the study concluded that the benefits of rural post offices to isolated communities far outweighed the cost of running them.

“Unfortunately this fact does not make rural branches profitable in commercial terms to the Post Office, which is still left with a serious problem of supporting a network that requires massive government subsidy, the future of which is by no means clear.

“The study also found that above and beyond the post office’s official roles such as sending parcels and administering benefits, post offices in rural locations have an important unofficial role as the centre of a community both as an institution and as place for social interaction.

“I believe this is the first time that these social functions have been officially recognised, and I am glad it has happened.

“The rural post office network faces a very uncertain future.  Many rural post offices have already succumbed to the death by a thousand cuts that has been the slow erosion of the services the government will allow them to provide.

“I feel that it would be a false economy for the Government to drop its requirement for a rural post office network, and saves £150 million a year in subsidy money by doing so.  In UK terms, this is a small price to pay to support what is effectively the foundation of many rural communities.”