Appendix 1 to Report 33/2009 CHALLENGING THE CUTS DEVON AND TORBAY POST OFFICE TASK FORCE FINAL REPORT JANUARY 2009 INSIDE FRONT COVER Brian Berman 5 July 1939 to 30 September 2008 (insert photograph) Towards the end of the work of the Devon and Torbay Post Office Task Force Councillor Brian Berman died suddenly. Brian was a member of the Task Force from the outset, representing the County Council. He was an active and determined member and a passionate advocate of the needs of Devon’s communities. The Task Force deeply appreciates his commitment to the task of fighting Post Office closures and the time and energy he put in. He has been a very sad loss to his colleagues and the community. This Final Report is dedicated to him, in the hope that his contribution will result in a real change in the way rural communities are served. 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report summarises the work of the Devon and Torbay Post Office Task Force. It explains the processes that the Task Force went through, its actions and achievements and the lessons it learned. The report then presents clear recommendations at the local, regional and national levels. In presenting this report the Task Force hopes that the lessons it has drawn from the process of the review of the Post Office network in Devon will be heeded and acted on. The process has, in the view of the Task Force, been deeply flawed and the outcomes unsatisfactory to say the least. Unless there is recognition at all levels of government of the value of the Post Office network both nationally and to local communities, the Task Force fears that the network will be further eroded. Our communities have seen a continual withdrawal of services, particularly by national providers, mainly under the mantra of efficiency and rarely with any heed to the realities of life particularly for isolated and deprived communities. The Task Force believes it is time to turn the rhetoric of community engagement into the reality of community provision. The Task Force therefore recommends that: At a national level: 1. the Government gives a commitment not to enter into any further closure programmes and to sustain a national network of around 12,000 Post Offices including around 340 in Devon and Torbay; 2. the Government (including all its Departments) develops a vision for the future of the Post Office network to ensure its sustainability and to fully acknowledge its social role within communities; 3. the Government establishes a Postbank at the Post Office bringing the UK into line with most of its EU counterparts, which run successful, profitable post office networks offering a wide range of personal and business accounts in addition to mail, government and other services; 4. the Government “thinks Post Office first” when considering awarding new contracts for government services and makes full use of the national asset it has in the Post Office rather than a continuing downward spiral of cuts and closures; 5. Post Office Limited gives a commitment to provide viable Post Office services within the new communities proposed at Cranbrook in East Devon and Sherford in the South Hams (and to consider other new communities and growth points in the future). At a regional level: 6. That Government Office for the South West, South West Regional Development Agency and South West Regional Assembly and other regional bodies assess the impact of their policy and strategic decisions on the regional Post Office network and take it into account in their planning and funding considerations. At a local level: 7. the Devon and Torbay Strategic Partnerships work with the National Federation of Subpostmasters and Post Office Limited to consider what work local government and other local agencies could channel through the Post Office network to help ensure its long term future and test its ideas through a number of pilots during 2009; 8. public authorities in Devon jointly encourage a proposal under the Sustainable Communities Act on the future of village shops and Post Offices by July 2009; 9. the Devon and Torbay Strategic Partnerships take on a vigilance role in respect of community based services and as part of that role remit a group to take forward the recommendations in this report. It is suggested that the remit is established by July 2009 and the vigilance role is carried out on an ongoing basis with immediate effect; 10. wherever possible, local government responds positively to community initiatives that strengthen the Post Office network locally. 2.0 CONTEXT 2.1 CHRONOLOGY OF CHANGE AFFECTING THE VIABILITY OF THE POST OFFICE NETWORK Mid 1980’s Post Office Ltd created as a separate company within the Royal Mail Group. 1990 National Giro Bank sold to the Alliance & Leicester Building Society. 1990s State beneficiaries encouraged to receive payments direct into their bank accounts. 2004 Paper-based order books withdrawn. State benefits payable electronically into bank accounts or a Post Office Card Account. 2007 Post Office Ltd lost the BBC contract for the sale of TV licenses. British Telecom introduced a surcharge of £4 on accounts not paid by Direct Debit discouraging customers from paying telephone accounts at the Post Office. Government instructed Post Office Ltd to close 2,500 branches by the end of 2008, reducing the Network to around 12,000 Post Offices (including Outreach services) as part of a Network Change Programme. 2008 Government awarded contract to Post Office Ltd to continue providing the Post Office Card Account. The contact will run initially from 2010 to March 2015, with the possibility of an extension. 2011 European Parliament has voted to introduce full postal competition across the EU by 2011. Government to review annual subsidy to Post Office Ltd of £150m. 2.2 THE NETWORK CHANGE PROGRAMME IN DEVON In May 2007, following a national public consultation, the Government announced a range of measures to modernise and reshape the Post Office network and put it on a more stable footing. This included the compensated closure of up to 2,500 branches representing about 17.5% of the total network, and the 1 introduction of around 500 ‘outreach services’ . As can be seen from the chronology of change on the previous page this change programme was conducted against a backdrop of continuing turbulence within the sector. Branch closures in Devon were considered as part of an Area Plan which was published in May 2008 covering Devon, Plymouth and Torbay (based on Parliamentary Constituencies). In July, following a six week period of consultation, Post Office Limited announced that: • it would retain 333 branches and proceed with 37 closures and 32 outreach services. Changes would take effect between August and Autumn 2008; • they would not proceed with two proposed closures in Torbay and would replace them with two further branches in Devon. Consultation on the replacement branches concluded in September and a decision was taken to proceed with their closure; • 7 branches were ‘escalated’ making them subject to further review by Postwatch (the watchdog for Postal Services) and Post Office Ltd. A decision was taken to close all branches and replace five with outreach services; • decisions in respect of the Devon element of the Devon and Cornwall Mobile Post Office were suspended until the conclusion of the Area Plan Proposal for Cornwall in September 2008. A decision was taken to permanently withdraw the service to 3 communities and replace a further two with a Home Service. 2.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF DEVON Apart from the urban areas of Torbay, Exeter and Plymouth, Devon is a largely rural, sparsely populated county. Devon is the seventh most sparsely populated county in England. The population is ageing faster than most other areas of the country due to inward migration of people over fifty and outward migration of younger people. Projections indicate that the over 50 age group will grow by one third in the next 15 years. Already 24% of the population are over 50. This is even higher in East Devon, Teignbridge and South Hams. Older people are more likely to depend on facilities, including Post Offices and village shops, in their local communities in order to retain their independence. Devon County Council projections suggest that the total population of Devon is expected to increase by 138,000 to 878,000 by 2021, with significant new housing development proposed in the Regional Spatial Strategy in order to meet demand. This includes proposals for new communities at Cranbrook in East Devon and Sherford in South Hams as well as major growth points at Barnstaple and Newton Abbot. These developments will increase the potential customer base for Post Offices. 3.0 THE TASK FORCE WHAT? The Task Force emerged from shared concerns over the implications of the closures on the viability of Devon’s communities. Some District Councils had already established Member groups to scrutinise and respond to the area review. The County Council was concerned that the process could result in some areas being more severely affected than others. All agreed the network in Devon could be irrevocably damaged and 1 Outreach services are where a subpostmaster, as well as running their own Post Office, provides a part-time service to nearby communities. The majority are in rural areas although the approach is now being trialled in urban areas. There are four types of outreach service: mobile – a van with incorporated post office counter which will stop at a specified location in a community at a designated time for a set duration; hosted – a subpostmaster visits a community at a designated time and runs a service from a ‘hosted’ location eg.