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Lynne Greenhaf has been the subpostmaster at Machen for the past 42 years, but despite serving her community for all that time she is facing a difficult financial future at the hands of Post Office bosses.

Machen is on a list of 105 “hard to place” post office branches, meaning there has been difficulty in finding someone to take over the running of it.

Subpostmasters are effectively independent businesses with a trading agreement in place from the Post Office.

In 2012 it launched its Network Transformation programme – a modernisation plan that saw branches move into shops such as WHSmith and the Co-op or themselves become local shops.

Efforts to do this in Machen have failed, meaning it is on the “hard to place” register. Branches on this list are generally those with low footfall in rural areas – making them less attractive for shops to take them on.

In 2015, Ms Greenhaf signed an agreement with the Post Office to state she would not be joining a new operating model.

The terms of that agreement said that when a replacement subpostmaster was found, Ms Greenhaf could ‘resign’ with 26 months pay.

Since then however, Post Office has reduced that to 12 months, leaving branch owners “in limbo”, according to The National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP).

Speaking to Caerphilly Observer about her situation, Ms Greenhaf said she had been treated like the “lowest of the low”.

She declared: “It feels like the Horizon Scandal all over again.

“We had no choice to re-sign the contract reducing the payment period to 12 months. Post Office used bullyboy tactics and we’ve been fighting for the return to 26 months pay for a year now.

“More than likely they won’t be able to find a replacement postmaster or new venue, so Machen will be without a post office. That’ll be a massive shame, particularly for the elderly who use it often.

“It’s honestly been keeping me up at night. I’ve been treated as the lowest of the low despite my years of service. They’ll never find someone else because who would want to do such a thankless job?”

Post Office has written to the remaining subpostmasters, including Ms Greenhaf, to say their current operating terms will cease in March 2025, meaning staff and the union have just over a year to resolve the differences over pay.

The biggest reason why subpostmasters are pushing for 26 months, according to NFSP union representative, Keith Richards, is because of the hidden costs that come with closing a post office.

Speaking to Caerphilly Observer, he said: “The exit costs involved are extremely high. I myself was a former subpostmaster and had to fork out around £7,000 to return the store back to its original condition when I stopped.

“When you think these people have tax, leases or mortgages, staff redundancies, as well as other costs to clear the premises, some people could even end up out of pocket.”

The Post Office will not be out of pocket, however, according to Mr Richards. He estimates it will save £8 million in reducing the payment period from 26 to 12 months.

This figure was put to the Post Office who declined to address it.

Mr Richards also went on to explain that for some, the situation is about more than money.

He said: “Unfortunately, in the time we’ve been trying to resolve this issue, two subpostmasters have tragically passed away, and another has been forced to close with no payments after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

“This decision was made with no prior consultation with the union or its members. We believe it’s morally wrong for people at or above retirement age to be put under this stress after countless years of service to Post Office.”

Asked if he expects Post Office to change their position by March 2025, Mr Richards said: “We’re always hopeful Post Office will see common sense; especially in light of recent events.

“We’ve held talks to explain our position, but at the moment they’re refusing to accept our concerns.”

A Post Office spokesperson said: “For those postmasters without a replacement, we recognise this programme historically created some uncertainty and provided no option to leave with a leaver’s payment.

“Consequently, we introduced a new option for these branches from April 2023, that includes the option to leave with a leaver’s payment of 12 months of remuneration by March 2025.

“In setting this level of remuneration, we have sought to balance the interests of these postmasters with the interests of the wider network and business, in the context of a heavily constrained financial position.”