The impact of Post Office closures on older members of local communities has been detailed in new figures from the charity Help the Aged. They show that almost a third of older people have seen their nearest post office close.
The charity’s report also found that a fifth of older people, or about 2.3 million people, needed to travel at least half a mile to a mile further to find a replacement for their local branch when it closed. 

This paper from the Social Market Foundation suggests that if the Government’s Community Empowerment strategy doesn’t change, the disconnection between citizens and government will only get worse. It argues that although the Government’s intentions are laudable, the structures put into place aren’t tackling the problems.