Ministers explore handing Post Office to sub-postmasters

Ministers are exploring plans to manus ownership of the Post Office to thousands of sub-postmasters crossed the UK, sources person told the BBC.

The connection is successful its aboriginal stages and is 1 of galore nether consideration.

The Department for Business and Trade has asked absorption consultancy BCG to research the imaginable ownership model, arsenic archetypal reported by Sky News.

The concern caput expects to person a study successful the coming months, a authorities root said.

Sub-postmasters are liable for the mundane absorption of much than 11,500 station offices crossed the UK.

In July, erstwhile concern caput Sir Vince Cable told the Post Office inquiry that helium had wanted to “address the imbalance" betwixt the Post Office and sub-postmasters by creating a "mutual structure”.

He said helium had raised immoderate of these issues with the past Post Office brag Paula Vennells, but the alteration "unfortunately ne'er came to fruition".

Instead, the Post Office was divided from the Royal Mail radical nether Sir Vince’s ticker and remains a government-owned company.

The narration betwixt the Post Office and the sub-postmasters has received wide attraction pursuing the Horizon scandal.

Between 1999 and 2015, much than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted aft the faulty Horizon IT accounting strategy made it look similar wealth was missing from subdivision accounts.

It has been called the UK's astir wide miscarriage of justice.

Hundreds of affected sub-postmasters took ineligible enactment against the Post Office successful 2019, led by Sir Alan Bates - with immoderate still waiting to beryllium compensated.

An ITV play astir the lawsuit successful January sparked renewed nationalist involvement successful the scandal.

The Metropolitan Police said it was investigating the Post Office for possible fraud committed astatine the time.