SOUTH Ockendon may be about to lose its Post Office in a cull on directly-owned branches.

The Post Office is looking at options for its wholly-owned branches, which currently employ about 1,000 workers and are loss-making.

These could include alternative franchise arrangements where an operator like the retailer WHSmith or another third party could take on the branches.

The government-owned Post Office has 11,500 branches across the UK, most of which are franchises, with 115 Crown Post Offices staffed by Post Office employees.

A strategic review, led by the Post Office's new chairman Nigel Railton, is designed, however, to overhaul how the organisation operates.

One of the branches under threat has been confirmed as the Post Office on Derwent Parade.

Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said it appeared the Post Office had "learned no lessons from its chaotic and uncoordinated mistakes from the past".

"CWU members are victims of the Horizon scandal – and for them to now fear for their jobs ahead of Christmas is yet another cruel attack," he added.

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Earlier this month, Post Office minister Gareth Thomas said the organisation was at a critical juncture and the government had already commissioned its own review into what the Post Office should look like in the future.

As part of the overhaul, hundreds of jobs at its head office are also under threat, with Mr Railton saying it was necessary to "right-size" the organisation.

Mr Railton said that conversations with the government on the proposed changes, and funding required, had been "positive" so far.