The National Federation of SubPostmasters (NFSP) has repeated its call for the government to make the Post Office network its ‘front office’.

Citing recent research by the National Audit Office (NAO) revealing that while the government is putting more of its services online, there are significant numbers of people who cannot, or will not, use the internet. According to the NAO study, nearly half (49%) of those aged over 65 and 26% of those on lower incomes do not use the internet and are “unlikely to go online”.

A NFSP spokesperson said this research underlined the need to develop plans for the Post Office as the front office for government.

“Complementing online provision, the front office service is designed to provide face-to-face access to a comprehensive range of government services.

“Although this proposal is central to government plans for the future of the post office network, the NFSP remains concerned that progress has been slow.”