Community-run post offices in the UK: What do we know?

Just under 200 community-run shops and pubs also provide post office services, often in rural areas where people can face significant barriers to accessing essential services.

Community-run enterprises are often set up in response to the loss of a community asset - whether a shop or a post office - and can in many cases survive where commercial enterprises cannot. In this context, community-run post offices help maintain consumer access to essential postal and basic banking services.

This short report [ 160 kb] draws on surveys and interviews with operators of community-run organisations in the UK, as well as stakeholder discussions and desk research, to outline the key benefits and challenges of running a post office as a community enterprise.

It shows that while community-run post offices deliver significant benefits to the local community, setting one up can be difficult. Over the next couple of months, we will continue to work with Post Office and the Plunkett Foundation to make it easier for community-run organisations to take on post office services.