Post office branches: statistics and developments

As of February 2026, there were 11,708 post office branches in the UK.

The Post Office is required to have at least 11,500 branches. It is also required to meet a set of ‘access criteria’; for example, that 99% of the population is within three miles of a post office.

Following a consultation in 2025, the government brought in a new requirement that at least 50% of the post office network be full-time and full-service branches.

Number of post office branches over time

The total number of post office branches in the UK has remained reasonably steady since 2009, as shown in the chart below.

The Post Office has said that it aims to have a larger network in 2030, with longer opening hours. It hopes that this will help it to achieve increased shares of the parcel and banking markets.

Types of post office branches

Standard agency branches made up 78% of the post office network in March 2025. They are often integrated into shops of various kinds.

Outreach branches made up 14% of the post office network in March 2025. Outreach branches are typically small, part-time branches, sometimes operating out of a village hall or mobile van. Outreach branches cost more per customer visit than some other types of post office.

Drop & collect branches made up 7% of the total post office network in March 2025. Drop & collect branches focus on prepaid parcels and bill payments, rather than providing a full post office service. The first drop & collect branch opened in late 2021. The Post Office has said it is aiming to expand to 3,000 drop & collect branches in 2026. This could mean a fifth of post offices are drop & collect branches.

The government has introduced a requirement that at least 50% of the post office network be full-time and full-service branches. Part-time outreach branches and drop & collect branches are not full-time and full-service. In April 2025, 79% of all branches were full-time and full-service – well above the 50% requirement – suggesting that the Post Office has leeway to introduce more branches that are not full-time and full-service.

Post office branches offer a range of services, including parcel and cash and banking services.

Parcels

Post office branches offer parcel services for a variety of carriers. This has replaced the previous arrangement, where customers could only send parcels through Royal Mail.

Access to cash and banking

Post office branches allow people and small businesses to access cash and banking services. Banks partner with the Post Office to provide basic services in post office branches. There are more post office branches than bank branches. Post offices are often open for longer hours than banks, and are also more likely to be open on Saturdays.

The Post Office also operates banking hubs. These offer people access to cash and banking services from a range of providers.

Location of post offices

Over the last decade (2015 to 2025), London has experienced the most growth in the total number of post offices, at 14%, and Scotland the greatest fall, at 11%.

Post offices in each constituency

A full list of post offices by constituency is made available to the Library by the Post Office each year. These lists are copyrighted to the Post Office and the Library is only able to provide them to Members and their staff.

A table with the number of post offices by constituency – post offices by constituency, up to 2025 – is available to parliamentary users via SharePoint.

Further information

A data file attached at the top of this page gives trend data for overall numbers of post offices, numbers by contract type, numbers by urban and rural split and numbers by UK country and region.