Ministers are exploring plans to hand over ownership of post offices to thousands of deputy postmasters across the UK, sources have told the BBC.
The proposal is in its early stages and is one of many being considered.
The Department of Business and Trade has asked management consultancy BCG to explore possible ownership models, Sky News first reported.
A government source said the business secretary was expected to receive a report in the coming months.
The Deputy Postmaster General is responsible for the day-to-day management of more than 11,500 post offices across the UK.
In July, former business secretary Sir Vince Cable said Post office inquiry He hopes to “address the imbalance between post offices and deputy postmasters” by creating “mutual structures”.
He said he had raised some of these issues with then post office boss Paula Vennells but the change “unfortunately never materialized”.
Instead, the Post Office was separated from the Royal Mail Group under Sir Vince’s supervision and remains a government-owned company.
The relationship between the post office and its deputy chief has come under widespread scrutiny following the Horizon scandal.
Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 deputy postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after failures in Horizon IT accounting systems left branch accounts missing funds.
It has been called Britain’s most widespread miscarriage of justice.
In 2019, hundreds of affected deputy postmasters, led by Sir Alan Bates, took legal action against the Post Office, with some Still waiting for compensation.
An ITV drama about the case aired in January revived public interest in the scandal.
Metropolitan Police say investigation into post office is ongoing There may have been fraud at the time.
