News has learned that the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has asked the management firm BCG to investigate possible mutualization possibilities for the Post Office.
According to a government insider, the effort is still in its early stages but should produce a report that will be delivered to Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, in the upcoming months.
BCG’s work is expected to include assessing the Post Office’s viability of becoming an employee-owned mutual, a model used by the John Lewis Partnership, according to the Whitehall source.
A mutualization of the Post Office might be a drawn-out and difficult process, according to people close to the process, who cautioned this weekend that no decisions had been made yet.
With almost 11,500 outlets, the Post Office is the largest retail network in Britain, but it only makes money thanks to a yearly government subsidy.
Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative minister in charge of postal matters at the time, met with leaders of the cooperative movement and trade unions in April to talk about the potential for mutualization.
