Number and type of POL Branches
Dear Post Office Limited,
How many POL branches are there and what is the breakdown by type,
Mains, local, Independant, old POL contract, Outreach etc?
Yours faithfully,
john o'sullivan
Our ref: FOI2022/00283
Dear john o'sullivan,
Thank you for your request for information which was received on 13th
April. Your request is being considered under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
The Act requires that a response must be given promptly, and in any event
within 20 working days. We will therefore reply at the latest by 16th May.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
Yours sincerely,
Liesl Jackson
Dear John O'Sullivan,
Please find attached the response relating to your Freedom of Information
request.
Regards,
Jackie Lawrence
Information Rights Team
Ground Floor
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London
EC2Y 9AQ
Dear [email address],
Thank you for a reply.IN October when I enquired about Branch numbers you gave this reply"How many Branches did POL have in the network in April 2021? What was the
number of each type?
I can confirm that Post Office does hold the information requested. Post Office believes,
however, that this information is exempt from disclosure under s22 of FOIA which exempts information intended for future publication and it is reasonable in all the circumstances to withhold it until that date. This information is published annually in the form of
our Network Report1 which is a statutory requirement under s11 of the Postal Services Act
20112
. This report is usually published in the first quarter each year and we intend to publish the latest report in early March."It is now the end of April and a request for Branch numbers is turned down because more than a year earlier figures were released.Which is the correct reason for not answering a most straight forward question?Has the Annual Report been delayed?
Yours sincerely,
john o'sullivan
Dear John,
Further to your query below. The 2020/2021 Annual Network Report was
delayed and was published on the Post Office Corporate website on 22nd
February 2022.
It is Post Office's aim to publish the 2021/2022 Annual Network Report by
the end of Quarter 2 2022. Once it is released, it will be available at
the following website:
[1]https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/en/go...
Kind regards
Information Rights
Data Protection and Information Rights Team
Finsbury Dials, 20 Finsbury Street
London, EC2Y 9AQ
[2][Post Office request email]
[3]Logo, company name Description automatically generated
Dear information.rights,
I have read through the Annual Report but find no mention of Branch Numbers or type.Can you point me to the right pages or provide this information yourselves please?
Yours sincerely,
john o'sullivan
Ref: FOI2022/00283
Dear John O'Sullivan,
Please would you refer to our letter dated 21st April 2022 in which this information has been shared.
Regards,
Liesl
Information Rights
Data Protection and Information Rights Team
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London
EC2Y 9AQ
[email address]
Dear information.rights,
Thank You.I dont wish to locate a Branch I simply wish to know how many do you have and what types they are.This is how you answered in March 2021-How many POL branches are there and what is the breakdown by type,
Mains, local, Independant, old POL contract, Outreach etc?
I can confirm that Post Office does hold the information you have requested:
Number of Outlets in the Network JAN (TRADED)
MAIN 3,381
LOCAL 4,142
DMB 118
Traditional 2,163
Outreach 1,655
Total 11,459
Temp closed branches: 1,424
To help my record keeping can you answer in the same style please
Yours sincerely,
john o'sullivan
Dear Mr O'Sullivan,
Our response letter of 21 April 2022, clearly states that:
"The information is available from our Annual Network Report, please see
slides 9 and 17:
[1]https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/media...
Further to this, you can find a great deal of useful information at the
following link on the Post Office website:
[2]https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/en/go...
Kind regards,
Andy
Andy Jennings
Information Rights Team
Dear information.rights,Thank you for a reply.When I click on the first link error 404 pops up.Sides 9 and 17 do not list Branch number and type,likewise link 2.Can you please state the number and type of Branches that make up the Network as at the publication date of the 2021-2022 Annual Report
Yours sincerely,
john o'sullivan
Dear Mr O'Sullivan,
Thank you for your email and we are sorry that you have experienced an error when trying to access the links we provided.
The information you were seeking is, however, available on our corporate site using the second link you were sent - https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/en/go... - together with other information relating to the network. If you select the link to download the Annual Network Report and refer to slides 9 & 17, these will contain the information about network size and branch type respectively.
We note that you have also asked for the same information for the 2021-2022 financial year. The Post Office Network list for the financial year 2021/2022 has been compiled and is currently being audited. As it is being audited, we cannot provide you with the current figures, but we intend to publish this information in early Autumn 2022, and it will be available at the same location as the current report.
Kind regards,
Liesl
Information Rights
Data Protection and Information Rights Team
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London
EC2Y 9AQ
[email address]
Dear information.rights,
Thank you for a reply.Can you say what you told Paul Scully that enabled him to state the number of branches is largely stable at NFSP conference in May if these figures are still being audited?I only ever requeste information for the year ending 2022,you supplied the figures for 2021a long time ago.Thanks
Yours sincerely,
john o'sullivan
Dear Mr O'Sullivan,
Thank you for your email, however we do not consider that it constitutes a valid request for information as defined by the Freedom of Information Act.
We now consider your request (FOI2022/00283) to be complete, if however, you wish to make a new request for recorded information under FOIA we will deal with it accordingly.
Kind regards,
Information Rights
Data Protection and Information Rights Team
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London
EC2Y 9AQ
[email address]
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