‘Hundreds of post offices at risk’ after Covid hits business
‘Covid has increased threat’
THE post office network is in ‘jeopardy’ with hundreds of locations potentially at risk as a result of the impact of Covid19, the Irish Postmasters’ Union (IPU) boss has warned.
The IPU has called on the Government to resume weekly collection of all social protection payments at post offices, rather than every two weeks, which was instigated in response to the pandemic.
The Department of Social Protection announced that from August 17 the One-Parent Family Payment, Working Family Payment, Illness Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Jobseeker’s Benefit will all be paid weekly once again. But the IPU wants the remaining payments to follow suit.
IPU General Secretary Ned O’Hara told the Irish Daily Mail that Covid has increased the stress on the existing post offices by impacting all aspects of their business and that hundreds of them are potentially at risk of closing.
‘The whole network is in Union boss: Ned O’Hara jeopardy, just because it was under pressure anyway and Covid has increased the threat. So I think that the whole network is in jeopardy or will be in jeopardy as a result of a combination of Covid and inaction from the Government,’ he said.
Mr O’Hara said that they are not able to forecast how many post offices are at risk of closing but the fear is that there will be ‘unrestrained closures’ with ‘hundreds at risk’.
The IPU said that resuming weekly collection of all social protection payments at post offices during August will help keep locations open in communities as this will lead to an increase in transactions.
There are 897 post offices operated by postmasters in communities across the country, while there are 45 post offices run by An Post.
Mr O’Hara said there was confusion among customers in relation to their date of welfare payment and that they are having difficulty in managing their finances over the course of two weeks.
He added that welfare payments account for 30% of all transactions in post offices and bring in a further estimated 20% in ‘spin-off business’ such as paying utility bills and managing cash.
‘The IPU is appealing to the Department to make all payments weekly for citizens who benefit from this facility and to drive a return of business at post offices,’ said Mr O’Hara.
This appeal was supported by the St Vincent de Paul charity whose president, Kieran Stafford, said that many families were finding it extremely difficult to adjust to fortnightly payments.
‘For those on social welfare payments careful budgeting is essential and the change in payment dates has been extremely disrupting. While SVP welcomes the reintroduction of some payments on a weekly basis, we urge the Department to extend this to all social welfare payments,’ said Mr Stafford.
President of the IPU, Seán Martin, added that the pandemic has ‘accelerated’ challenges post offices are facing. ‘The new Government urgently needs to recognise the social and economic role of post offices and place a commercial value on this that can sustain and keep the network open. Communities also need to come back into the post office and use their service in order to keep it viable,’ he said.
In a statement yesterday, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection said: ‘The Department is continuing to review the schedules for the payments that continue to be paid fortnightly and in line with public health guidelines.’