WIDENING the financial services offered by the Post Office will save rural branches, the government has been told.

The Rural Services Network said it fully supported the expansion of Post Office banking services.

But government proposals on the idea did not go far enough.

“An extension of the banking services offered by Post Offices could be extremely popular with the public,” said the network.

It would boost rural communities and could also provide a significant source of much-needed income for the sub office network.

The comments were made in a network response to a government consultation on developing the services offered by the Post Office.

The network said it supported the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters (NFSP) wish to see a genuine state-backed Post Bank set up.

“Despite the widely reported dislike and distrust of banks, people still need financial services and access to a branch network,” it said.

“Yet the high street banks have been closing branches over the last decade, particularly in rural areas and less affluent areas.”

Since 1990, 42% of bank branches had closed, leaving the UK with fewer branches per head of population than many other European countries.

New services were urgently required if the post office branch network was to remain stable at 12,000 outlets.

“The expansion of the Post Office’s banking and financial services should be one of the key means to providing Post Offices with additional income.

“Expanded Post Office banking, and the regular repeat transactions it would bring, has the potential to provide sub postmasters [with] significant income.”

The network said it disagreed that the consultation should focus purely on products and services offered by the Post Office.

The mechanism of delivery was central to the success of any expansion of Post Office banking services.

“It is essential to get the structure right if the government is to achieve its stated aims of a sustainable Post Office offering a wider range of services.”

For that reason, the network was “extremely concerned” that a Post Office/Bank of Ireland model was not right.

“The e vast majority of sub postmasters earn nothing at all from many Post Office financial services products. The evidence that the model is not delivering for sub postmasters is clear.

Instead, the UK could become a world leader in terms of the financial services offered at a Post Bank, said the network.

“A UK Post Bank should provide as many as possible of the financial services currently provided by a high street bank,” it said.

A copy of the network’s full response can be downloaded here.