Sue HugginsGeneral Manager – Rural Post Office LtdCo-location in rural service delivery

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The Rural Network today• Rural defined as ≤ 10k inhabitants

• Roughly 8,000 outlets, of which some 6,000 are in communities of less than 1,000

• Wide range of premises, typically village shops, but also including

• halls of various types• pub premises• private houses• restaurants/cafes• schools, old people’s homes• portacabins, farms, stables• garden sheds and other outbuildings!

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The importance of retail

84% of network has a retail offer attached:

• General Store

• Greetings Stationer

• Convenience

• CTN

• General Stationer

• Supermarket/Hypermarket

• Garage/Service Station

• Pharmacist/Chemist

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The Rural Post The Rural Post OfficeOffice®® Network – Network – 8100 branches 8100 branches covering the covering the whole of the UKwhole of the UK

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Key features of the Post Office Rural Network• A UK wide integrated IT system (with

on line banking capability) – covering all rural areas

• A UK wide secure distribution system – covering all rural areas

• A UK wide branded franchise system – enabling consistent product/service delivery by local people in all rural areas

• UK’s most trusted brand

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Two different forms of co-location• Service Bundling – Post Office Ltd bundles a

range of different products and services and uses its network for delivery into rural areas (banking, Government services, utility bills, postal, financial services, travel etc)

• Resource Bundling – Post Offices co-locate premises (village shop, pubs, churches, village halls etc) and people (sub-postmasters and assistants may also be shopkeeper, publican, librarian etc)

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Example of co-location – Norfolk Police partnership

An example of both service bundling and resource bundling

• 8 rural Post Office Branches providing ‘front desk’ services for the Police

• Citizens get better geographic and hours coverage

• Subpostmaster gets income to assist sustainability

• Police get value for money operation

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Partnerships and Co-locationNorfolk Constabulary

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When co-location works

• When it is win/win/win (people/premises/products)

• When it is convenient to customers rather than convenient to suppliers

• When costs can be genuinely shared• When all parties are committed

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However, co-location demands a sustainable underpinning economic model• All parties want to co-locate at marginal

cost• A sustainable platform infrastructure is a

pre-condition for sustainable co-location• Social benefits need to be translated into

financial flows to support the model• Clarity and consistency of approach are

needed if individuals/groups are going to commit resources into the medium term

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Final Thoughts

• Co – location works when it is considered as part of wider agenda and when there is genuine commitment to that agenda

• I’d like to applaud Defra for working to develop a strategic approach to co-location as a mechanism to enhance rural service delivery

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