FSB: Government must take action to prevent more Post Office closures

Small businesses cannot afford any further Post Office closures, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) warned, ahead of a Government announcement on the future of Royal Mail on Thursday (February26).

In a survey of 5,300 members of the FSB, 80 per cent said they depend on Post Offices to send their mail and for other business transactions, while 47 per cent said they visit the Post Office a couple of times a week. Small businesses rely on an efficient network to run their business – and with 2,500 Post Offices already having closed over the last year and a half, further closures could have a serious impact on their business.

Closures have had already had a negative effect: nearly 20 per cent (19.5) said post handling takes longer because queues are longer and 17 per cent said they had to travel further because their local branch had closed.

The FSB is urging the Government to take action now to ensure our small businesses are able to use an effective system without further post office closures. Nearly half (48 per cent) said they wanted Royal Mail to remain in state ownership, while 27 per cent said they would consider part-privatisation as the way forward if it meant no more post offices would be closed.

Clive Davenport, Trade and Industry Chairman, said:

“We have already seen more than 2,500 Post Offices shut over the last year – any more closures will have an even more damaging effect on small businesses which use its services daily. Yet, the current system is not operating efficiently, which is leaving small businesses wasting valuable time travelling to another post office or waiting in queues.

“Post Offices are small businesses in their own right and are at the heart of many communities. Over 80 per cent of small businesses said that if their post office closes, it would have a significant impact on their business. The FSB is urging the Government to ensure we have a fully operating postal service to serve the needs of our 4.7 million small businesses.”

Notes to Editors

1. The FSB is Britain’s leading business organisation with over 215,000 members. It exists to protect and promote the interests of the self-employed, and all those who run their own business. More information is available at http://www.fsb.org.uk.

2. Over 6,000 small businesses were surveyed between Thursday 12 and Thursday 24 February 2009.

Contacts:

Stephen Alambritis: 020 7592 8112 / 07788 422155
Sophie Kummer: 020 7592 8128 / 07917 628998
Prue Watson: 020 7592 8121 / 07825 125695
Marc Shoffman: 020 7592 8113 / 07595 067068

For regional FSB contacts please go to www.fsb.org.uk/regions