As Post Office Limited announces a further 37 Crown branches will become franchises, Citizens Advice says it is important customers still get access to the services they need at a convenient location.
Citizens Advice Chief Executive Gillian Guy said:
“For post office customers, it is important that the new locations are convenient, there is a high standard of customer service and people still have access to the same services - like accessing banking - as they did previously.
“Running post offices as franchises is nothing new - the vast majority of the UK’s 11,500 post offices are run by independent operators.
“Over the last few years thousands of dedicated post office branches have been moving to locations within other shops or services. There is a lot to learn from how this has worked - such as the importance of notifying people about how and when services are changing - in order to make sure these latest changes continue to meet customers’ needs.
“It’s also important that Post Office Limited doesn’t close crown branches before the new franchise branches are up and running.”
Citizens Advice has the statutory duty to represent consumers in the postal and energy markets.
Notes to editors