A DEBATE in Parliament compared the 'woeful' pay of postmasters and mistresses with the hundreds of thousands of pounds received by Post Office executives. 

The Post Office has recently been in scandal after its executives were paid large bonuses for cooperating with the Horizon computer system inquiry, which saw hundreds of operators wrongly prosecuted for theft and false accounting.  

The chief executive Nick Read agreed to return a portion of his £455,000 bonus. A spokesperson from the Post Office said that the company "apologises unreservedly for an inappropriate sub-metric related to the Horizon IT Inquiry, which formed part of the wider remuneration scheme for the transformation of the business in 2021-22. 

"The Post Office CEO has written to the Chair of the Inquiry to offer a personal apology and confirmed that they have chosen to return the money paid associated with this remuneration metric."

The South Lakes MP Tim Farron said that the bonus scandal raised the debate of how much money individual Post Offices receive compared to executive pay. 

Natland, Shap and Hawkshead are some of the local Post Offices which have closed recently, and Mr Farron said that many other branches were "facing closure" because of a lack of income. 

Those three branches were operated as independent businesses. Most branches under the Post Office banner are independent shops that also run postal services.

Mr Farron put to Kevin Hollinrake during Business Questions on May 10: "Given that the high street banks have largely abandoned our towns and villages isn't this time then for the government to ensure that those banks pay a much larger sum to our Post Office network to ensure that our much-valued Post Office branches can survive and thrive? And giving our subpostmasters and subpostmistresses a pay rise, not the executives."

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Mr Hollinrake replied: "The government’s position is we are maintaining a network of 11,500 branches nationally and 99 per cent of the population will be within three miles of a post office.

"He is absolutely right, we need to make sure there is a sustainable business model around a post office and whether that’s a relationship with banking I’m very happy to discuss that with him."

The spokesperson from the Post Office continued: "This is the most challenging economic climate retailers have faced in decades and we fully recognise the pressures Postmasters face to keep their branch open and serve their local community.

"Post Office increased remuneration rates in August to support Postmasters, including a one-off lump sum to help with the difficult winter. Last month, remuneration rates for handling cash deposits were increased by a further 20 per cent.

“With regards to Natland Post Office, we recently opened an Outreach branch at Oxenholme Station and would encourage local residents where possible to visit the branch on Mondays between 11am and 1pm and Thursdays between 12.30 and 2.30pm.

"Alternatively Kendal Post Office is around 30 minutes away on public transport and open six days a week. Shap and Hawkshead Post Office are advertised and should an interested applicant proceed with taking on either of these Post Offices we will inform the local communities.”

The Post Office pointed to the cost of energy increasing by over £8,000 for a typical branch this year.