Purpose of the Act
16.This Act has four main purposes. First, it makes provisions to allow for an unrestricted sale of shares in Royal Mail, including provisions for an employee share scheme, and for Post Office Ltd to remain in full public ownership except for a possible move to a mutual ownership structure in future. Secondly, it makes provision for the transfer of Royal Mail’s historic pension deficit to Government. Thirdly, it makes provision for a new regulatory regime for the postal services sector, including transferring regulatory responsibility from Postcomm to OFCOM, with the primary duty of OFCOM in relation to postal services being to maintain the universal service. Finally, it makes provision for a special administration regime to protect the continuation of the universal postal service should the universal service provider be at risk of entering insolvency proceedings.