Post Office Privatisation?

The post office regulator Postcomm has proposed that the Royal Mail be part privatized in order to safeguard the future provision of quality mail services within the UK.

Nigel Stapleton, Postcomm's Chairman, warned that the Royal Mail's financial position would worsen unless significant action was taken. Since the Royal Mail lost its monopoly at the beginning of 2006 other operators have been allowed to compete in the more lucrative market areas of its operations including the  bulk collection, sorting and delivery of commercial mail. However, the Post Office is still required to provide a universal service across the UK at a uniform tariff.

This is a highly contentious proposal which could well lead to the involvement of private equity finance in public postal services and a further reduction in the number of local post office outlets.

Citizens Advice this week gave evidence to the Ad-Hoc Committee on Postal Services at Stormont where it set out its recent survey findings and put forward a number of proposals to address the future challenges faced by the Royal Mail.

Rather than privatise the Post Office, Citizens Advice would either like to see the regulatory regime changed in order to allow Royal Mail to compete on a level playing field with private sector competition or a commitment given by Government to subsidise the business justified on the basis of social infrastructure investment. Citizens Advice hopes that the committee will give time and imaginative thought to the very real issues surrounding future postal services in Northern Ireland and the pivotal role that post offices play in cementing together the social fabric of local communities.