Consignia

With your permission, Presiding Officer, I would like to make a brief statement to the Assembly about the impact of Consignia’s recent announcement on postal services in Wales.

Last Thursday, Allan Leighton, the Chairman of Consignia, announced the second phase of the Company’s restructuring plans.

He announced that the Royal Mail would save £350m a year by moving to a single delivery six days a week and that these plans will result in a further 17,000 redundancies across the UK over the next three years.  

It is still too early to say how many mail workers in Wales will be affected by these cuts but our postmen and women now face an extremely anxious and difficult time.

The decision to cut more jobs is a dreadful one for the workforce.  The commitment of our postmen and women is highly valued by the communities they serve.  They have vital local knowledge and language skills, which help to sustain the levels of service we have all come to rely on.

The proposed job losses are all the more painful because effective management and investment could have helped to avoid the present situation.  

Allan Leighton has made it clear that the Company aims to achieve the reduction in jobs on the basis of voluntary redundancy and by offering alternative jobs within the company. We will have to keep a close watch on the practical implications of this undertaking for Wales where alternative sources of employment may not be readily at hand.

The Welsh Assembly Government will of course do everything that it can through working in partnership with Job Centre Plus, ELWA and other agencies to help people who leave the Royal Mail to get new jobs and retraining opportunities as quickly as possible.  

New Delivery Specification
Although it is regrettable that Consignia’s financial position will mean an end to the second mail delivery, I shall be intent on holding the company to its declared intention that the disruption to businesses in Wales will be minimised. Consignia’s data suggests that only about 4% of mail is delivered in the second post. The company further suggests that the changes will also mean that postmen and women can work a five day week, instead of the current six and that around 1 million more 1st class letters every week should arrive on time across the UK. On behalf of this Assembly, it will be my intention to subject these suggestions to full and on-going scrutiny.

I turn now to  the proposals of the regulator, Postcomm.

Following the plenary debate on postal services on 12 March the Assembly Government conveyed the Assembly’s concerns about the retention of a universal service, at a uniform tariff across the UK, to Martin Stanley, the chief executive of Postcomm.

The regulator’s decision on 29 May to delay the timetable for the introduction of competition shows it has clearly listened to the representations made by stakeholders, including the National Assembly for Wales.


As the future of the network, a scheme for the reinvention of the Urban Post Office network was announced by in Westminister on 3 January 2002  This confirmed the Government’s agreement in principle to support a compensation package for subpostmasters affected by the modernisation proposals.  The scheme awaits EU state aid clearance and completion of Parliamentary procedures.

Post Office LTD wrote to UK subpostmasters on 10 April 2002 informing them of whether their Post Office was within the scope of the restructuring proposals and providing further details of the reinvention scheme. Up to £210 million is currently earmarked for the programme.

Consignia’s data suggests that around 300 Post Offices in Wales will be considered as part of the urban network reinvention proposals but it is too early to predict how many subpostmasters will opt to close their Post Offices and take up the compensation.

In recognition of the important role of Post Offices in maintaining community cohesiveness and providing services to vulnerable groups in society, the Welsh Assembly Government is developing proposals to support the retention of those Post Offices with a high social value in both urban and rural areas.

As to the name change, this is to be welcomed in so far as it might play a part in the very necessary task of reestablishing the public trust in, and respect for, the company.

Last Thursday’s announcement involves difficult and painful decisions which will impact upon the lives of many individuals and communities. My responsibility will be to ensure that any detrimental impact upon Wales as a whole is  minimised and that the assurances provided by the company are realised in practice. It is a responsibility which I intend to discharge vigorously on behalf of this Assembly and the people we represent.