MORI Survey Shows Threat To Post Offices - Opik

9.10.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 11th Aug 2006

If the Government scraps the post office card account a huge number of post offices across Wales could be forced out of business.

Lembit Opik, Welsh Liberal Democrat MP for Montgomeryshire, has expressed concern at the results of a poll of subpostmasters, which exposed the dire financial situation many Post Offices are in.

An Ipsos MORI poll revealed that subpostmasters are heavily reliant on income from the Post Office card account and bill payments, both of which are under threat from the Government.

Commenting, Lembit said:

"This influential report confirms how important Post Office card accounts are to subpostmasters. They bring in an average of £249 per month, or 10% of a subpostmaster's net pay. 1 in 3 subpostmasters said the biggest fear for their business was the Government's planned withdrawal of the post office card account.

"It's quite clear that many of our post offices are under severe financial pressure. According to this survey, in January, 40% of subpostmasters made a loss. If the Government scraps the post office card account a huge number of post offices across Wales could be forced out of business.

"The Post Office Card Account provides vital income for Welsh post offices and an important service for more than 4 million people across the UK. The Government currently plans to abolish the Post Office Card Account in 2010. I'll continue to campaign against this move which would do huge damage to our post office network."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Key Findings from the Ipsos MORI Research Survey were that:

· Post Office card accounts bring in an average of £249 per month, or 10% of a subpostmaster's net pay.

· Average personal drawings (money taken as a salary) were only £941 per month from the Post Office part of subpostmaster's business - a 6% decrease since February 2004.

· 40% of subpostmasters were unable to cover their post office staff costs, overheads and personal drawings from their net post office pay in January 2006. (ie, made a loss).

· A third of subpostmasters said the biggest fear for their business is the withdrawal of the post office card accou nt. A quarter (23%) said their biggest fear is losing custom due to changes in the benefits and bills payment system (eg. In April 2006, TV licensing contract went to an alternative supplier).

· Prior to Direct Payment, benefit cheque and order book encashment brought subpostmasters an average income of £656 (Aug 2002)

· Rural Subpostmasters are more dependent on the fixed element of their income than other subpostmasters. On average 46% of a rural subpostmaster's net pay is made up from the fixed element. For most rural post offices this is currently paid through the Government's Social Network Payment.

The survey concludes:

Supostmasters are heavily reliant on income from the Post Office card account and bill payments, both of which are under threat; and the new flagship products, intended to offset loss in pay from traditional products, are bringing in low levels of income and in many cases nothing at all.