POST office staff have walked out in a protest over job cuts and branch closures.

Staff in Bognor, Crawley, Chichester, Horsham, Hove, Lancing, Shoreham and Worthing crown post offices are all supporting the 24-hour strike organised by the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

Melville Road post office in Hove was one of the branches that closed, union bosses said. While managers and agency staff have been enlisted at other branches as members travelled to Westminster to take part in a rally and join picket lines across London.

Ian Ward, executive council member for the region, said this showed "solid support" by members, adding: "I think we have succeeded in getting our message across. We want the Post Office to listen to members and come back to the negotiating table."

Paul Carpenter, South East regional secretary for the Communications Workers Union, said plans by the organisation's board to make cuts were "attacking" jobs and pensions.

He added: "The reality is the board has absolutely no imagination, no vision nor appetite for growth. They simply plan to cut themselves to profit and our members are they victims, yet they have the audacity to award themselves obscene reward packages that include eye watering amounts of money. We need to expose the clear failings of the Post Office at every given opportunity including into Government."

The action, supported by 83 per cent of CWU members and Unite, is against changes which the union claim would mean 2,000 job losses, privatisation of main branches and tens of thousands of postal workers losing retirement income.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward previously accused the Post Office of “relentlessly pursuing a programme of cuts,” that had brought the company to “crisis point”.

He urged the Government to pause proposed cuts and find a new plan which gives employees and the public confidence.

The Post Office has played down the significance of the strikes, claiming only three per cent of it's 11,600 branches were affected.

Kevin Gilliland, Post Office network and sales director, said the decision to strike was "disappointing" and the measures were "necessary" to secure the future.

He said: "We can reassure customers that more than 97 per cent of Post Office branches are open for business as usual.   We are working hard to minimise any disruption in our 300 directly-managed branches, many of which are also open.”

He said the company halved losses in 2015/16 and was making "steady progress" in reducing costs to the taxpayer, adding: "We want to work with our unions to create the Post Office network that our customers need for the future. All of our proposals are taken forward with the utmost care for the people they affect and we're proud of our track record in supporting people through difficult changes.

"More than 99 per cent of people in the UK live within three miles of a Post Office branch and we are committed to secure that level of service for the future."

Addressing concerns on changes to pensions, Mr Gilliland said:

“It is crucial that we safeguard the benefits that members of our Defined Benefit Plan have already built up.

“The business’s financial position is improving but we remain loss-making. The fund’s surplus is currently being used to help subsidise the cost of the Plan and, based on the advice of our actuary, it will run out in 2017.

“Once this happens, the costs to the business of meeting existing commitments will significantly increase and will not be sustainable.  We therefore need to close the DB plan before the surplus runs out.

“All of our proposals are taken forward with the utmost care for the people they affect and, following consultation and having taken further advice from our Actuary, we made changes to what we are proposing to try to lessen the impact on individuals.

“We are clear that our recommendation is the responsible thing to do both for members of the plan and for the long-term financial health of the business.  It is currently being considered by the trustee.”  

*An earlier version of this article said Lancing's main post office in North Road was also closed, according to union bosses. A Post Office spokesman contacted The Argus on Friday [16/9] to say the branch was not closed as claimed.