Ownership of the Post Office network could be handed to thousands of sub-postmasters under plans to be announced by the UK government.

A green paper on the future of the business will also look at the future size and shape of the Post Office’s branch infrastructure, and the range of services that it may offer in future, according to Sky News.

The restructure comes after a week in which emerged that 13 people may have killed themselves because of the failed Horizon IT system and the systematic cover-up of those failings by executives.

The Department for Business and Trade declined to comment on the green paper’s contents.