Dear Customer Southend-On-Sea Post Office® 207 High Street

Dear Customer

Southend-On-Sea Post Office

207 High Street, Southend-On-Sea, SS1 1LN

I’m writing to let you know that we are changing the way we operate Southend-On-Sea Post

Office. From 29 January 2019 the branch will transfer to WHSmith High Street Ltd who will

continue to operate from the current premises, with extended opening hours including

Sundays.

A wide range of services would still be available at the branch, with the exception of

Biometric Enrolment service for the Home Office but DVLA Photocard Driving Licence

renewal and Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence application services will still be

available. The nearest alternative branch providing the Biometric Enrolment service for the

Home Office is Dartford Post Office, 19 Hythe Street, Dartford, DA1 1AB, approximately

29.5 miles away.

This change is part of the continuing modernisation of the Post Office network. Our priority

is to ensure that we provide services that will meet customer needs, both now and into the

future, in a way which will secure the long-term viability of Post Office services in Southend-

On-Sea.

WHSmith is one of the UK’s largest booksellers, stationers and newsagents, operating more

than 1,400 stores, with an extensive reach and a presence on nearly every significant UK

high street. WHSmith has been successfully operating Post Offices within its stores since

2007 and currently runs over 130 branches, providing high levels of customer service, with

trained staff promoting products and services in a modern environment.

What happens next?

We have decided that transferring this branch to a retail partner is the best way to run

Southend-On-Sea Post Office. We have provided posters for display, information leaflets

will be available in the Post Office to let customers know and we’ve written to local

representatives. If you are a local representative, it would be helpful if you could share this

information with any local groups or organisations that you know within the community, for

example on noticeboards, local charities and in GP surgeries, to help our customers and

your constituents understand what is happening to the Post Office in Southend-On-Sea. If

you would like a supply of these posters, please let us know. Our contact details can be

found at the end of this letter.

The change of management of the branch to a retail partner rather than by us directly is a

commercial decision for Post Office Ltd and we are not seeking feedback on this aspect of

the change. However we welcome feedback and comments that can help inform our plans,

particularly on the following areas:

 Do you have any comments about access into the premises?

 Do you have any comments about access to Post Office services once inside the

premises?

We will be accepting comments until 14 November 2018. We won’t be responding to you

individually but as we finalise plans for the branch a summary of the key issues raised and

our response will be provided online and in branch.

You can share your views on the proposed change through our easy and convenient online

questionnaire via postofficeviews.co.uk. When entering the site you can use the search

function to find the engagement for this branch. The unique code for this branch is

010140.

You can also share your views by email, post or telephone. Our contact details are below.

Thank you for considering our plans. Any information we receive will be considered as we

finalise our plans for the new branch.

Yours faithfully

Roger Gale

Network & Sales Director

Post Office Limited

How to contact us:

Please note that items sent by Freepost take 2 working days to arrive and don’t include Saturday

or Sunday. Therefore please do allow sufficient time for your comments to arrive before the end

of the consultation period, as we are unable to consider feedback received after the deadline.

We are committed to engaging with and supporting our customers and their representatives as we

make changes to the Post Office network. This engagement is being carried out in line with our

Principles of Community Engagement which have been agreed with Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice

Scotland and the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland - the independent statutory

consumer watchdogs. A copy is available at the end of this letter.

postofficeviews.co.uk

comments@postoffice.co.uk

Call: 03452 66 01 15

Textphone: 03457 22 33 55

FREEPOST Your Comments

Please note this is the full address to use

and no further address details are required.

Want to tell us what

you think right here

and now? Scan here.

If you don’t have a QR

code scanner on your

phone, you can find

one in your app store.

To get this information in a different format, for example, in larger

print, audio or braille, please call 03452 66 01 15 or Textphone

03457 22 33 55.

Southend-On-Sea Post Office Information Sheet

Post Office Opening

hours

Current

Mon

09:00 – 17:30

Tue

09:30 – 17:30

Wed

09:00 – 17:30

Thu

09:00 – 17:30

Fri

09:00 – 17:30

Sat

09:00 – 17:30

Sun

Closed

New

Mon

09:00 – 17:30

Tue

09:00 – 17:30

Wed

09:00 – 17:30

Thu

09:00 – 17:30

Fri

09:00 – 17:30

Sat

09:00 – 17:30

Sun

10:00 – 14:00

Products & Services

The same wide range of products and services will still be available

with the exception of the Biometric Enrolment service for the Home

Office.

Serving positions

There are seven serving positions in total, made up of one screened

and six open plan. The total number of serving positions has been

based on current and future predicted business levels.

Additional facilities

Three self-service kiosks for mails transactions including home

shopping returns, E Top-Ups, and a range of bill payments.

Access and facilities

There are two sloping entrances into the branch, both with automatic

doors. A low level serving counter, low level writing desk and hearing

loop will continue to be available.

Retail

Stationery, books and news

Principles of Community Engagement on changes to the Post

Office network

We are committed to engaging and supporting our customers and their

representatives as we make changes to the Post Office network. The following

principles will be adopted when communicating about changes to your local Post

Office branch.

We will Notify - where we are informing customers of changes around:

● Opening hours

● Temporary closure

/ temporary service interruption

● Re-opening of a temporarily closed branch in the same site

● Opening a new branch unrelated to a previous closure

● Location used by a Mobile Post Office within a community

We will display a poster in branch (or nearby if appropriate) to notify customers of

the above

changes, providing four weeks’ notice. Where four weeks’ notice is

not possible, we will provide notice as soon as we are able to. For temporary

closures we will include details of the nearest alternative Post Offices and our

customer helpline/textphone.

We will Engage - where we are seeking feedback on a decision that has

been

made on:

● Re-opening of a temporarily closed branch in a new location (where the

branch has been closed for more than three months)

● Franchising of a Directly Managed branch in its existing site

While the decision to proceed will have already been made, we will welcome

suggestions about specific aspects of the change such as access arrangements and

the internal layout. We will provide four weeks’ notice or, where extenuating

circumstances prevent this, we will provide as much notice as possible.

During this period we will display a poster in branch and provide information

online. We will contact locally elected representatives

, the Consumer Advocacy

Bodies and selected charities

, providing clear information on any changes to

services or access arrangements at

the branch. We will ask locally elected

representatives to share information with other key community outlets (such as

notice boards, local charities, magazines, GP surgeries etc.). We will publish the

outcome of the engagement online and in branch, providing a summary of

key

issues raised with a clear response to each and any changes made to our original

plans.

We will Consult - where we are seeking feedback on proposals prior to a

decision

being made on the:

● Permanent closure of a Post Office branch

● Permanent relocation of a Post Office branch (including the franchising of a

Directly Managed branch to a new site)

We will carry out a six-week

local public consultation, informing customers, locally

elected representatives, Consumer Advocacy Bodies and selected charities of the

proposal. This information will also be made available online and for a Directly

Managed branch a press release will be issued to local media. We will ask locally

elected representatives to share information with other key community outlets

(such as notice boards, local charities,

magazines, GP surgeries etc.).

The consultation will ask specific questions on areas where we would like feedback

on access to Post Office services and will confirm when the change will happen if

the decision is made to proceed. We will provide clear information on any changes

to services as well as access to and into the new branch.

We welcome all feedback with the following factors being taken into account in

making our

decision, which we expect to make within four weeks of the close of

consultation:

● Customer access to, into and inside the new or alternative branch/branches

with particular regard to vulnerable consumers

● Any local community issues which could be affected by or affect the proposal

At the end of the consultation process we will write to locally elected

representatives,

Consumer Advocacy Bodies and respondents to the consultation

(where practical) to confirm

our decision and provide a summary of key issues raised

with a clear response to each. This information will be made available online and in

branch (where possible).

These Principles have been agreed with Citizens Advice, Citizens

Advice

Scotland and the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland; the

independent statutory consumer watchdogs.

What to do if you feel these Principles haven’t been followed:

Please get in touch so we can investigate your complaint. We’ll explain in our reply

whether we believe we have followed our Principles of Community Engagement and

will provide you

with the contact details for the relevant consumer watchdog

(Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice

Scotland or the Consumer Council for Northern

Ireland) if you’re not satisfied with our response. The watchdog will independently

assess whether we have followed the Principles of Community Engagement process

(rather than the decision itself) and recommend any actions with respect to the

complaint.

postofficeviews.co.uk

comments@postoffice.co.uk

FREEPOST Your Comments

Call: 03452 66 01 15

Textphone: 03457 22 33 55

We will provide an update to locally elected representatives if the status of the

temporarily closed branch has not changed

after 12 months.

Locally elected representatives include but are not restricted to the Member of

Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, or Northern Ireland Assembly,

Local Authority Chief Executive, Ward Councillors, Parish or Community Council.

Selected charities are local Citizens Advice, Age UK, Northern Ireland’s Disability

Action and Northern Ireland’s Rural Community Network. All parties referred to in

2 and 3 above are encouraged to share all information with local groups and

organisations who they believe have an active interest in changes to their local Post

Office.

There may be a small number of cases where due to circumstances outside our

control we have no option other than to permanently close a branch in a particular

location. In these cases the consultation will seek feedback on alternative Post Office

service provision in the area.

If the consultation includes more than four weeks in July in Scotland and Northern

Ireland or more than four weeks in August in England and Wales we will extend the

period by one calendar week. We will not start any local public consultation during

the two-week period which includes the Christmas and New Year bank holidays.