Post Office has an economic impact of £4.7bn, more than the annual economic impact of Heathrow Airport, a new report reveals.
The independent report by London Economics, an economics and policy consultancy, found that visits to post offices generate more than £3bn a year of spending in nearby shops and businesses and nearly £1bn of spending in host retailers as a result of the additional customers that their post office attracts.
London Economics also found that money was spent in neighbouring shops and premises on over two in five visits to branches. For every £1 spent by Post Office, an additional £1.51 is generated across the wider economy.
Post Office and its branches support and sustain nearly 50,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs throughout the UK. Post Office’s extensive reach means it helps support more than 4,000 FTE jobs in nine of the UK’s 12 regions, and at least 1,900 FTE jobs in every region.
The report, titled Part and Parcel: the economic and social value of Post Office, reveals that Post Office is worth almost £1bn overall to SMEs, with nearly three in 10 SMEs using a branch once a week to deposit cash and use mail services.
Nick Read, Chief Executive of Post Office, said: “Post Office branches are essential to the high street ecosystem, driving footfall and generating wider nearby economic activity, as well as providing an underlying economic infrastructure that supports SMEs. The report shows that this economic contribution is felt in every corner of the country, and across each parliamentary constituency, supporting 50,000 jobs, and generating an aggregate economic impact of £4.7bn every year.
“Post Office is essential for the shopkeepers, traders, and nascent businesses of the nation as a whole, who rely on our continued presence on high streets in towns and villages everywhere.”
James Cannings, Economic Consultant at London Economics and one of the report’s authors, added: “Post Office is the backbone of the UK’s economy, supporting economic value through working as an important enabler for businesses. It also plays a key role in keeping the UK’s day-to-day commercial activities alive by creating a trusted anchor on high streets and by generating a livelihood for postmasters.”
The report also found that the social value to consumers alone delivered by the Post Office was 16.5 times greater than the funding received from government. The annual social value of Post Office as a whole to consumers is as much as £3.8bn and, on average, consumers said they were willing to pay more than £130 for Post Office services per household each year.
The report also reveals that Post Office is the mainstay of the UK’s banking infrastructure, with 15% of the population depending on their local Post Office branch for cash and banking services.
Read added: “Simply put, post offices, and the dedicated postmasters and postmistresses who run them, keep people connected. Connected to the financial system and their cash, to their friends and loved ones, to their customers at home or overseas, and connected to one another in what may, for some, be the only human contact in the day. It is very telling that half of customers believe Post Office fosters a sense of belonging in the community. Post Offices should not be overlooked nor taken for granted.”
