£180m for post offices to expand financial services

The new money is on top of 1.7bn currently being invested in the 11,500 branches, with the aim of making them more sustainable.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: "Since the global banking crisis we have set about reinventing the financial services industry piece by piece, building a system that is fairer, trusted and more responsible.

"Today is the next step in that process. The post office is a well-loved community institution and this move will bring more banking services back to the heart of those communities."

Lord Mandelson said the new measures, including new accounts and business services, had previously been likened to creating a Post Office Bank.

A coalition of groups including the Communication Workers Union, Federation of Small Businesses and National Pensioners Convention were pressing Ministers to support the idea of such a bank.

Lord Mandelson said yesterday's announcement would be a core part of Labour's election manifesto.

They include a weekly budgeting account to help people on low incomes manage their household budgets and save money by taking advantage of the discounts for using direct debit to pay their utility bills; a children's savings account to be launched in the next 12 months; and a Post Office Current Account, which will be accessible from any Post Office in the country.

Negotiations are also taking place with RBS and Santander banks to give access to their current accounts, meaning that around 86 per cent of current accounts would be accessible at post offices.

A new agreement was also announced with Santander to allow all its business account holders to access their accounts at the Post Office.

The Post Office will also explore the development of a Post Office business bank account, which would be available throughout the network.

Other measures will include Post Offices offering a new mortgage product with a 90 per cent loan-to-value ratio aimed at first-time buyers, plus a Saving Gateway account for people of working age on lower incomes.