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Access criteria for post offices

In addition to announcing further public support for the network in May 2007 the Government introduced new minimum access criteria to ensure reasonable access to the Post Office's products and services across the UK.

Five criteria will apply at the national level:

  1. 99% of the UK population will be within three miles of their nearest post office outlet;
  2. 90% of the population to be within one mile of their nearest post office outlet;
  3. 99% of the total population in deprived urban areas across the UK will be within one mile of their nearest post office outlet;
  4. 95% of the total urban population across the UK to be within one mile of their nearest post office outlet;
  5. 95% of the total rural population across the UK to be within three miles of their nearest post office outlet.


In addition, the following criterion will apply at a local level to ensure a minimum level of access for customers living in remote rural areas:

  1. 95% of the population of every postcode district to be within six miles of their nearest post office outlet.


Even after the implementation of the recent Network Change Programme, Post Office Limited (POL) exceeds each of these access criteria at a national level.

In order to comply with the criterion which applies at the local level POL introduced post office outlets in a number of remote rural areas (mainly in Scotland and the North of England) where previously there was no local access to Post Office products and services.

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