Post Office workers staging 24-hour strike

The Post Office said most of its 11,600 branches will remain open

Thousands of Post Office workers have gone on strike in a dispute over branch closures, job losses and changes to pensions.

The 24-hour walkout is being staged by members of the Unite and Communication Workers unions.

A total of 118 of the 305 Crown offices in city and town centres were closed, the Post Office said.

But almost 99% of the 11,600 Post Office branches remained "open for business as usual", it said.

"We apologise to any customers who have been inconvenienced by the disruption to service in a very small number of branches," said Kevin Gilliland, the Post Office's network and sales director.

Dave Ward, general secretary of the CWU, said the Post Office was at "crisis point", and urged the government to stop the "cycle of closures, job losses and attacks on workers' terms and conditions".

Ivan Monckton, of Unite, accused the government of presiding over an "ill-managed decline" of the Post Office.

The unions said the strike had been supported by workers and warned of further action if talks planned for next week on averting further action failed.

'Not sustainable'

Mr Gilliland said the Post Office was "successfully adapting to change and we are safeguarding the future of the network".

"More than 99% of people in the UK live within three miles of a Post Office branch and we are committed to secure that level of service for the future," he said.

Asked about workers' pensions, he said: "It is crucial that we safeguard the benefits that members of our defined benefit (DB) plan have already built up.

"The business's financial position is improving but we remain loss-making. The fund's surplus is currently being used to help subsidise the cost of the plan and, based on the advice of our actuary, it will run out in 2017.

"Once this happens, the costs to the business of meeting existing commitments will significantly increase and will not be sustainable. We therefore need to close the DB plan before the surplus runs out."