The SubPostmaster Magazine

NFSP Interview
only way that we would get the 26
months would be if there was
someone willing to take the post
office on.
If there wasn’t someone to take it
on, we had to wait.
That was in December 2015 but
some of us have been hanging on
since 2012.
PO has come along, scrapped that
agreement and given us new terms
and conditions.
They haven’t negotiated with us.
We all opted to leave the network, so
have upheld our side of the bargain.
SUE: I don’t want the post office to
close in my village and have been
asking all the shops if anyone is
willing to take it on.
I just feel guilty and that I’m letting
my customers down. I love being a
postmistress but I’m 70 this year, so
think it’s time to let it go but I’ll be
very sad when that happens.
BARRY: We’ve got no other business
or anyone around us who is
interested in taking our post office
on. Our customers rely on a post
office being here, they’d be in
complete shock if we closed.
Sometimes I wake in the middle of
the night thinking about what to do
as I don’t want to let the community
down.
CALUM: My wife and I are the same.
We don’t want to be in a situation
where we leave the community
without access to post office
provision and that is what bothers us
the most.
STEVE: What happened when you
had to sign the resignation letter?
SUE: After we’d got the first letter, to
say whether we’d go to a Local, Main
or take the 26 months’ payment, a
lady came in and stood over me
while I signed the resignation letter.
The way she was and the way she
spoke to me hurt more than
anything. I was crying whilst I did it.
BARRY: We had the same, it was
horrible. This guy would turn up at
7am in the morning before my post
office opened and tell me I needed
to sign the letter.
I told him I’d do it when I was ready,
but they didn’t listen and kept
coming like vultures.
It got to the stage where I didn’t
want to open the shop as they were
just there every day. You can’t make
that type of decision under pressure.
STEVE: What do you want to see
happen now and what would you
say to PO if you could get a
message to them?
SUE: We want the 26 months
compensation.
BARRY: Just be
transparent and please
talk to us.
CALUM: We just want
to sit down with PO
and for them to show
a little bit of
compassion and
understanding. For
them to show that they
have learned their lessons
from the Horizon scandal and the
way they treated postmasters and
ruined so many people’s lives and
that they’re determined for that not
to happen today.
There’s 105 HtP postmasters and 50
of them who communicate with us
on a regular basis. This payment is
their pension pot, and this decision
will have a knock-on effect for the
rest of their lives.
We’ve written to MPs, the Horizon
Compensation Advisory Board, the
Department of Business and Trade,
the Postal Affairs Minister, PO as well.
I’m just so frustrated that nobody is
willing to listen to Sue and to Barry to
hear what they are going through.
This has caused so many people so
much distress.
I'm sure this is exactly what
happened in the past when those
who were trying to find out what was
going on with Horizon were blocked
everywhere they turned.
It feels like history is kind of
repeating itself.
STEVE: In a statement, a Post
Office spokesman said: “For those
postmasters without a
replacement, we recognise this
programme historically created
some uncertainty and provided no
option to leave with a leaver’s
payment.
“Consequently, we introduced a
new option for these branches
from April 2023 that includes the
option to leave with a leaver’s
payment of 12 months of
remuneration by March 2025. In
setting this level of remuneration,
we have sought to balance the
“This
payment
is their pension
pot, and this
decision will have
a knock-on
effect”
interests of these postmasters
with the interests of the wider
network and business in the
context of a heavily constrained
financial position.”
What do you say to that?
SUE: We shouldn’t have to
make that decision. It
should still be 26
months’ payment.
BARRY: We chose
our final option. Why
should they get the
choice to make what
we should be given?
CALUM: When you
look at the difference
between the 26 months and
the 12 months, it is just over £4
million to PO.
When you consider it in relation to
a business that’s turning over £885m,
and that is given hundreds of
millions of pounds worth of
government subsidies a year on top
of that, it is a drop in the ocean.
But to 105 of our colleagues,
divided amongst them, that is vitally
important.
Part of the financial position PO
has got now is because it is dealing
with the historical matters of the
past, and rightly so. But we can’t
prevent that from our colleagues
here not getting what they are due.
Following this interview, we were
told that PO had started to send
Network Provision Leads (NPLs) out
to visit areas around the HtP offices.
PO said it was hopeful that there
would only be 18 HtP offices which
would not have an applicant to take
it on by the end of March. The NFSP
feels that predicted figure is unlikely.
Neither PO nor government are
prepared to alter on the stance they
have taken but the NFSP will
continue to raise HtP postmasters’
case for a re-instatement of the 26
months compensation at every
opportunity.
To view the full
interview in the
HARD TO PLACE
podcast, scan the
QR code here
12 The SubPostmaster April 2024