"It'll get to the point where I'll have to close" says Carnforth mum battling Post Office for fairer pay

A mum from Carnforth who says she may have to close her village post office is calling for fairer pay for postmasters in the wake of the recent scandal.

Joanne Neill is campaigning for struggling postmasters and postmistresses to get a fairer wage from the under-fire Post Office.

She said she barely gets enough to keep Bolton-le-Sands Post Office running and thinks she may have to shut down by the end of the year.

Joanne and her son Connor Syson, who run the post office on Main Road alongside other members of the family, spoke to Beyond Radio in the wake of the Horizon IT scandal which was brought to mass public attention by the TV drama 'Mr Bates versus the Post Office'.

"I made my mind up about the Post Office a long time ago...we struggle and they just don’t pay a fair wage," said Joanne.

"When you read about the hierarchy taking all the bonuses they take and we’re struggling to even pay one person’s full-time wage, it’s really annoying.

"I want the Post Office to pay a full wage. We barely get enough remuneration to cover the rent, utilities and one person’s wage.

"We have a newspaper delivery service as well. If it wasn’t for that business, we couldn’t keep this post office going. I’d be much better off just running my other business somewhere else.

"You get a monthly remuneration on sales, it goes on what you sell. No basic salary, no guaranteed wage, like you used to in the good old days. You used to get a base rate then whatever you made on top of that.

"We had to apply for extra because we were running seven per cent below profit. They give exceptional circumstances payments for so many months. There’s no profit whatsoever.

"Over the years it’s got lower and lower and lower. I’ve read so much about it over the past few weeks, since the TV drama aired, people saying they’re still paying an unfair wage to postmasters. I didn’t realise anybody else was having the same problems. It’s sickening.

"I was at one point planning on just closing the doors because it’s just not viable from this building any more.

"They say we’ve got to be hard salespeople. But you can’t hard sell to customers who are only posting a parcel, or a letter or some stamps. And we are unbelievably busy. We can't do any more.

"We can’t carry on as we are. We’re just losing money.

"It’s a shame because I do want to keep the post office going and I’ve tried. The community want it.

"So many people are shocked by what’s going on, coming in and saying ‘we support you’. We’ve had so much support from the village.  They don’t want to lose it.

"It’ll get to the point where I have to close the door and I’ll have lost all the money I’ve put into this, which was supposed to be a long-term family business.

"Connor has had to go back into accounting. He’s had to think of doing something else. My other son had gone into business painting and decorating.

"I can’t see us being here by the end of this year."

Bolton-le-Sands Post Office is pictured below.

Joanne said she'd watched the ITV drama, which highlighted how hundreds of postmasters across the UK were unfairly prosecuted for stealing money because of incorrect information provided by a computer system called Horizon.

"The programme was heartbreaking, I cried so many times," she said.

"To think that’s not only touching the tip of how many people it’s affected, how many people who died and have not been compensated. And they’re still dragging their heels over it.

"They were quick enough to take the money off them. It sickens me. It makes me so angry."

She said her family "have had loads of problems with Horizon" and at times, they too have had to pay money back due to an unexplained shortfall.

"We’ve been here six years. None of us have had any proper training. None of us were made to do Horizon training. My son just learned from workers who were already here.

"We’ve been loads down. They don’t give you any help whatsoever. You just get told, you have to pay it back. We’ve paid thousands back.

"It’s torn these families apart. Its horrendous. You feel helpless. What can you do? It’s this massive corporation, run by the government, and they’re prosecuting people willy-nilly."

Connor (pictured below) said: “We paid £3,500 at the beginning, in the first few weeks of us being here.

"The Post Office's official stance is that with all these problems that have been going on with Horizon, they say it’s been completely robust since 2017. But I had to put £100 in, the other day.

"It’s meant to be a public service yet they don’t even pay the basic amount for it to be in this building. They say we need to sell more. You don’t even get paid for all the back office work you have to do, sorting out the cash and bagging it away.”

Joanne said she'd written to David Morris, MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, asking for help. 

We have contacted Mr Morris for comment.

A spokesperson for the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters (NFSP) said: “Post offices are the beating heart of local communities. Postmasters are investors in PO and 98 per cent of post offices are privately owned. Many have life savings in their business, and they need the public’s continued support. They are important contributors to local economies and are, collectively, a major employer in the UK.

"However, 70 per cent of Postmasters earn less than the National Minimum Wage and that's before the April increase takes place. The average Postmaster remuneration in 2012 was £42,000 per year but now it's only £33,000 and that's before you add inflation into account.

“Costs have increased at a greater rate than revenues, while Government has systematically withdrawn services such as benefit payments from the Post Office and just this week announced the removal of International Driving Permits.

"Postmasters as investors in the network are defacto business partners of Government yet, they have no understanding as to the long-term strategy of Government in relation to the Post Office and how that will safeguard their investment but ensure they have viable businesses going forward.

“This is why the NFSP are calling for a change in the governance structure of the business and are suggesting an Oversight Committee to bring greater accountability and transparency into the decision making of Government, the Board of Post Office and the senior management when it comes to the network.

“The aims of the Oversight Committee would be: to challenge the strategy of the PO, improve the culture and rebuild trust in the PO brand, improve transparency and corporate accountability, ensure PO’s IT system is externally audited with any improvements implemented, and to ensure the future of the network is secure.”

PAYMENT FOR POSTMASTERS - WHAT THE POST OFFICE HAS SAID

The Post Office told us that postmasters' remuneration is made up of fixed payments for certain transactions and variable payments for other transactions.

For example, a postmaster will receive more remuneration if a customer purchases a first class stamp and requests their letter is delivered next day, than if a postmaster sells just a second class stamp.

They also said that postmaster remuneration and any increases are reviewed on an annual basis, and there is a hardship fund for any postmasters who are struggling at the moment.

A spokesperson for the Post Office said: “This is a challenging economic climate for many retailers and we recognise postmasters, like all retailers, have had to deal with increases in energy costs and the living wage which has impacted their bottom line.

"Our focus has been and continues to be on driving footfall to our branches and improving branch profitability.

"We recognise that many Post Offices are the only place that people can do their everyday banking which is why last year we increased remuneration for handling cash deposits by 20 per cent.

"We’ve also struck new partnerships with Amazon, Evri and DPD and for the first time in our 360-year history customers can choose non Royal Mail carriers to deliver their parcels. This service is available in around 5,000 branches and we doing all we can to roll the services out to more branches.”

THE HORIZON SCANDAL

More than 900 sub-postmasters and postmistresses were unfairly prosecuted by the Post Office due to incorrect information provided by the computer system in branches, called Horizon.

Many of those convicted went to prison for false accounting and theft. Many were financially ruined.

In 2017, a group of 555 sub-postmasters took legal action against the Post Office. In 2019, it agreed to pay them £58m in compensation, but much of the money was swallowed up by legal fees.

Although campaigners won the right to have their cases reconsidered, as of January 15 2024, only 95 convictions had been overturned.

The Metropolitan Police is also investigating the Post Office over potential fraud offences arising from the prosecutions.

A public inquiry began in February 2021.

Many former sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses say the scandal ruined their lives.

The government said it would "swiftly exonerate and compensate" those affected.