Catalogue description Records created or inherited by the Post Office Corporation (Telecommunications Division)

The Post Office ceased to be a Government Department on 1 October 1969 and was established as a public corporation under the Post Office Act of this year. The idea of converting the Post Office into a nationalised industry had first been raised as early as 1932 when a publication by Lord Wolmer entitled ""Post Office Reform"" made reference to the subject.

A committee under the chairmanship of Lord Bridgeman was set up in 1932 to investigate criticisms that the Post Office, as a large scale commercial undertaking should be run along the lines of a business concern rather than an ordinary government department. In the event it was not until 1965 that the process was put in motion whereby the Post Office was changed to a public corporation.

The Post Office Act, 1969, laid down the structure of the new organisation, the Corporation being split into two divisions - Posts and Telecommunications - which thus became distinct businesses for the first time. Under the Act, the Post Office had the exclusive privilege of running telecommunications systems with limited powers to authorise others to run such systems.

In 1977, the Carter Committee, in one of a series of reports commissioned by the Government on public corporations, recommended a further separation of the postal and telecommunications services of the Post Office, and for their relocation under two individual corporations. The findings in this report led to the creation of the British Telecommunications Act, 1981, and the creation of British Telecom as a public corporation in its own right. Although it remained part of the Post Office until 1981, in 1980 the telecommunications business of the Post Office was given the distinguishing name of British Telecom.