This in from the Cabinet office, in their own words, Ed
The winners announced by Minister for Communities Stephen Williams will each receive up to £10,000 to make their idea a reality.
Proposals include providing free wi-fi access and IT training, developing community apps and websites to inform people and businesses about local services and a scheme to protect elderly and vulnerable people from winter freezes by keeping them in touch with neighbours, local services and charities.
Godshill’s plans
The winning scheme in Godshill will develop the Post Office as community hub and referral service to reduce isolation of older people by extending service to include advice on health/care, local activities/events and support volunteer-led befriending service.
Stephen Williams said:
“The millions of people visiting branches to post cards and parcels at the moment remind us of the huge community role the Post Office plays, but this will not just stop in January, it goes on all year round. Post offices are becoming community hubs, getting local people and businesses involved with each other, learning new skills, and sharing information and today is a big step forward with 25 areas becoming even more active.
“Christmas is a time when people can feel particularly isolated and the problem is most acute amongst the elderly so whilst all these schemes will benefit the whole community I also want to congratulate those schemes that are in particular aimed at helping the elderly.”
Stiff competition
Over 100 branches put forward suggestions for the competition. Originally the aim was to fund up to 20 schemes, but the quantity and quality of the proposals means that 25 have been successful.
Funding from the Cabinet Office for proposals which address isolation enabled additional schemes to be supported. All nominations were for projects that provided a service, activity or support easily accessible and open to all.
Benefitting the community
The competition was launched in July asking the public to suggest projects their local post office could start up to benefit the community.
Paula Vennells, Post Office Chief Executive said,
“The Post Office is at the heart of communities across the country and our sub-postmasters understand how they can make a real impact on their customers’ lives. The Community Enterprise Fund builds on this unique role, enabling 25 branches to provide additional services designed around the needs of local people and businesses, such as helping the elderly to access support during cold winters and giving people access to the internet and computer training.”
Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd said:
“Post Offices have a special place in the community. So we welcome this opportunity to support great ideas that show how post offices can bring people together to tackle social problems like isolation.”
In many places in England, especially in more rural areas, post offices already play a role in the community which goes way beyond offering the usual post office services such as government transactions and financial services. Over 90% of the population lives within one mile of a post office.
Image: ARG Flickr under CC BY 2.0
