Post Office secures £370m of new funding from government

The government has announced £370m of fresh funding for the Post Office.

As part of the three-year funding agreement, £210m will be invested in the ongoing modernisation of the network so it can continue to provide essential services and bring additional benefits to its 17m customers across the UK, including extending opening hours and cutting queue times.

Meanwhile, a further £160 million will help to protect ‘last shop in the village’ community branches and ensure everyone continues to have access to their local branch.

The government said that more than £2bn has been spent already on the Post Office between 2010 and 2018 to modernise more than 7,500 branches and ensure 93% of people live within 1 mile of their nearest branch.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said: "The Post Office is at the heart of communities across the UK, with millions of customers and small businesses relying on their local branch every day to access a wide range of important services.

"With the network at its most stable in decades, this £370m of government funding will ensure it can continue to modernise and bring further benefits to customers across the UK."

Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells said: "We’re fulfilling the promises we have made, and this is recognised by the government’s further investment in the Post Office, which will enable us to continue transforming the business to meet our customers’ changing needs - a transformation that has already seen us make significant progress."

The Post Office swung to a profit in 2017 for the first time in 16 years.