Post Office closures battle

The quick and easy survey asks about the Post Office services people use, what they value about post offices and how the community in which they live would be affected in their local branch were to close.

Other questions aim to find out how often people use their post office, how easy it would be to get to another branch, and where they would go to get the same services if their local post office was no longer available.

Citizens' Advice says the answers will help shape the charity's response to the Government's consultation on the future of the post office network.

Citizens' Advice social policy officer Tony Herbert said: "People often say that post offices play an important community role. We want to find out whether this is really true, and if so, what people think that role is. We also want to here what, if anything, people really value about the post office - do post offices really provide a unique service, or could what they do be done equally well by a range of other providers?

"The results of the survey will also give us a clearer idea of who would be most affected by the loss of local branches, and what the impact on their lives would be - from the additional costs of travelling further, to any extra inconvenience.

"We can't escape the fact that for the network to remain viable, some changes to the way services are provided are inevitable.

"But we want to make sure that, as its review gets under way, the Government does not lose sight of the role of the post office at the heart of the community. We want to see a post office network that meets people's needs.

"Our survey will provide ordinary people with the opportunity to make sure