Your Guide Pilot
Concept
The concept of post
offices as Government General Practitioners was trialled from July 2001 until
March 2002 in 269 post offices in Leicestershire and Rutland. Branded "Your
Guide", the pilot was designed to test one-stop-shop access to information
and advice on employment, benefits, pensions and the local community to a target
audience of pensioners, jobseekers and busy parents. The information and
services were made available through a variety of channels:
® electronic;
® leaflets;
® postmasters;
® telephones;
® Benefits Agency and other
organisation experts.
Report and outcomes
The report evaluating the pilot was completed to schedule and published on the 23rd
July 2002. This showed that Your Guide was liked and used, but that its impact
was limited. A significant majority users thought that they could have accessed
the same information elsewhere. It concluded that Your Guide would neither significantly improve
Government Departments' ability to meet their objectives nor generate a viable
level of income for Post Office Limited and its branches. A publicly funded Your
Guide service would therefore not represent value for money, and the decision
not to roll out the service was announced to Parliament on the 15 October 2002.
However, some positive outcomes resulted from the pilot. Your Guide highlighted
the potential for Government Departments to deliver services through post
offices in future, and indicated a number of areas to be explored further.
Related publication
® Your Guide -
the 23rd
July 2002 report 
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