Member News
9th March 2011
Billy Hayes, Communication Workers' Union general secretary, welcomes the opportunity for proper scrutiny of the Postal Services Bill in the House of Lords.
Yesterday saw the first day of committee stage for the Postal Services Bill in the Lords.
Our union welcomes the opportunity for proper scrutiny of a bill that was rushed through the Commons without serious debate about some of the significant consequences of the legislation.
The CWU has a number of concerns about the Postal Services Bill. However, there are two issues that are really beginning to resonate with peers. These concerns were expressed yesterday when debating clause one of the bill, but will really come into focus as committee stage progresses.
Peers from all political parties are expressing serious concerns over the universal service obligation – the six days a week, one price-goes-anywhere service – and the future of the post office network.
There are up to 15 clauses in the bill that allow the new postal services regulator or the government to reduce the universal service, something very likely in the light of the need to make Royal Mail more attractive to external investors.
Quite simply, no commercial business would choose to operate the USO in its current form. The universal service is costly to provide and a private company will seek to reduce the scope of the universal service – to do otherwise would be to act counter to its commercial interest.
The other big issue for peers is that post offices are continuing to close every week and an unusually high number of sub-postmasters selling their post offices are finding it impossible to secure a buyer because the government will not insert a contractual link between Royal Mail and the post office network into the bill, making a commercial agreement a condition of the sale.
Nearly 38 per cent of the Post Office's income comes from Royal Mail and this business is currently secured by the fact that they are owned as the same company.
The government has refused to guarantee an inter-business agreement and it is entirely possible that a privatised Royal Mail could look to cut costs or maximise profit and end the relationship with the post office network.
Over 1,000 local post offices are currently 'long-term temporarily closed' or for sale without a buyer. Local postmasters are voting with their feet and the Post Office is struggling to find anyone interested in taking on post offices with scant prospects of securing future business.
We have seen real support for these key issues amongst peers from all parties and will watch with interest over the next few weeks to see if the government acknowledges the genuine concerns of the public, the opposition and many of their fellow coalition peers for the future of the postal service.
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