The Way Forward for Sheffield’s Post Offices

We've had a positive meeting with Post Office Limited, Richard Caborn MP and David Blunkett about the future of the 15 Post Offices in Sheffield due to close.  The overall future of the Sheffield Post Office network was also discussed with all parties agreeing that they don’t want to be in this situation again.

 

Unfortunately it became clear that, because of Post Office’s national criteria, it won’t be possible to keep services in all 15 areas, predominantly because retaining Post Office services would affect the viability of other Post Offices.  The branches the Post Office will not allow the Council to even explore options for are: Deepcar, Derbyshire Lane, Grimesthorpe, Loxley, and Silverhill. The Council is due to hear the status of two more branches next week.

 

Councillor Paul Scriven, Leader of Sheffield City Council, said: “I'm deeply disappointed that the Council has been blocked in its bid to save Post Offices for some of our local communities. However, I'm hopeful that all is not lost as we have been given the go ahead to enter into discussions with Post Office Ltd to try to do something for the other branches."

 

"The meeting was very useful, and we are now much clearer about what options are actually available to us.  We now have to have a realistic look at what we can do to retain vital services where we can, although we are very much constrained by Post Office criteria and funding issues.  We’ll be working really hard over the coming weeks and months to do as much as we can to find local solutions for local people. However, I'm aware that our hard work for these communities will come as no consolation to those areas where there is no prospect of their Post office being saved.”

 

We will now work with Post Office Limited to look at different options for the other areas. Based on the experience of other authorities, the Council estimates that it will take around six months to develop viable long-term solutions, as has been the case in Essex which is an example of best practice.  Even then it may not be possible to find a solution for all the branches.  This is because there are a number of hurdles to overcome including factors such as Post Office criteria, financial issues, legal issues, and finally commercial agreements to work through.  We are not able to run Post Offices itself so would need to work with third parties to broker solutions.

 

Looking ahead, there will be another meeting of Council officers and Post Office Limited within the next two weeks to start detailed discussions about options for retaining some form of Post Office service in the other areas.  A key part of this meeting will be to examine in detail the financial information which Post Office Ltd has agreed to share for each branch and what happens next will heavily depend on that information. 

 

Post Office Limited has written to all 15 postmasters at the branches which are closing, giving them the option of shutting down in one month or in three months.  This is from the date the closures were confirmed on 14 October; therefore Post Offices are likely to start closing from mid-November.