Post office closure consultations ‘a sham’
Author: The Guardian |
The national consultation that led to the government’s controversial post office closure programme was deeply flawed and so ineffective that it was regarded by many consumers as “a sham”, a hard-hitting report will claim today. Research carried out by the consumer champion Consumer Focus reveals that although record numbers of people responded to the exercise, the Post Office failed to engage with them and missed the opportunity to understand how the planned cutbacks would destroy local communities.
Consumer Focus says its report, Seen and Heard? Consumer Engagement in the Post Office Closure Programme, identifies lessons for providers of other essential but vulnerable local services such as libraries and community transport.
The closure programme and consultation were overseen by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which in May 2007 announced that Post Office Ltd would close 2,500 branches and set up 500 new outreach services. Post Office Ltd consulted on each of its closure and outreach proposals for a six-week period, to determine which post offices would shut. Public consultations followed an 11-week period in which local authorities and the then industry watchdog, Postwatch, could seek changes to the proposals.
While Post Office Ltd reportedly received 190,000 formal responses to its consultation, Postwatch received a further 15,000 submissions. Consumer Focus’s research suggests wider consumer engagement with the programme was significantly higher, with an estimated 2.7 million consumers making their views known through signed petitions, public meetings, responses to newspaper campaigns and letters to MPs and other elected officials ? as well as formal responses to the consultation through Post Office Ltd.
However, only about one in 13 directly contributed to the formal decision-making process. The report warns: “As a result Post Office Ltd missed opportunities to obtain valuable local knowledge of how cutbacks would affect communities, and many consumers were left feeling that the consultation process was a sham.”