Share bonus for drivers
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• Thousands of Royal Mail and Parcelforce drivers are in line for cut-price Post Office shares as the Government completes its public consultation on the future of the Post Office. In what would be the first privatisation of its kind, the Government is believed to favour employee participation in the £1 bn sell-off. This could involve free or dicounted shares for staff, who would be granted priority over outside investors if the offer was over-subscribed.
The size of the discount would be decided by the Treasury, but sources close to the review believe that a maximum subsidy of £100m would be available. The Royal Mail's 160,000 staff includes 50,000 drivers; Parcelforce employs 8,000 drivers in a workforce of 1 3,000: they would all be eligible for the discount. A powerful lobby group, including the Trade Secretary Michael Heseltine, is pushing the Prime Minister to accept the scheme as part of a 51% flotation of Royal Mail and Parcelforce. The remaining Post Office business, Post Office Counters, is expected to remain in the public sector. EXCLUSIVE