The Big Picture

Both directly and indirectly, Post Office and its network of branches supports and sustains nearly 50,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs throughout the United Kingdom. To put this number into context, this is approximately the same number of full-time employees as there are in a city the size of Lincoln or Exeter (Office for National Statistics, 2021a).

Around half of these jobs relate to individuals employed directly by Post Office Limited (around  3,100⁹) or Postmasters and those working in Post Office branches on a franchise basis. For example, this includes Postmasters, regional and area managers, and employees in Post Office Limited’s head office. Meanwhile, the other half of these are supported throughout the United Kingdom’s economy through the indirect and induced effect (‘ripple effect’) associated with Post Office branches and Post Office Limited’s staffing and non-staffing expenditures.

The vast majority (90%) of the FTE jobs supported by Post Office are due to its branch network, once again highlighting its significant economic impact across the United Kingdom. Moreover, the positive impact on employment is spread throughout the country, as Post
Office not only supports jobs within branches, but also sustains jobs in local businesses due to the indirect and induced spending outlined above. Post Office’s extensive reach means it helps support 4,000 FTE jobs in nine of the United Kingdom’s 12 regions, and at least 1,900
FTE jobs in every region (see Figure 3).

Figure 3 FTE jobs supported by Post Office by region, 2021-22