Employees at Royal Mail will receive at least 10% of shares following privatisation of the state-owned postal service, Business Secretary Vince Cable said today.
'This will be the largest employee shares scheme of any British privatisation for 25 years in terms of the number of workers who will benefit - second only to the privatisation of British Telecom (BT) in 1984,' Mr Cable said.
Upcoming legislation 'will include a specific provision to make available at least 10% of the shares in Royal Mail to employees, as part of the privatisation process', the minister said.
'This is a once in a generation chance to transform the culture at Royal Mail - energising everyone and allowing employers and employees to share in the company's future success,' he added.
Cable said the plans did not include the sale of Royal Mail's Post Office business, adding: 'There will be no programme of (post office) closures' as there were under the previous Labour government.
Britain's coalition government, which came to power in May, had announced earlier this month that it would press ahead with plans to privatise or sell off Royal Mail.
Cable said that Royal Mail was 'struggling under the weight of some huge pressures: pressure from email and falling mail volumes; pressure from a dire pension position; pressure from a lack of money to invest.'
