Post office closures in urban areas have a "significant" knock-on impact on local communities, hitting firms, community groups and even schools, according to a new report.

The report says that they play a particularly valuable role in deprived urban areas, and outlines the new threats that they now face from changes to the post office network.

Much attention has been focused on rural areas, yet the contribution post offices make to urban areas has been overlooked.  In fact, post offices in urban areas have borne the brunt of recent closures:

• Over the past two years, more than eight urban post offices have closed for every rural post office closure.
• More worryingly still, more than one in six of the urban post office closures took place in deprived areas, said the report.

The research was carried out by the New Economics Foundation for Manchester City Council after 20 post offices were closed in the Manchester metropolitan area last year.

An analysis of the value of a post office showed they saved small businesses £270,000 a year because of the extra cost of visiting sites further away as well as longer queues following a closure.

The study found each post office in Manchester contributed around £310,000 to the local economy every year. For every £10 earned in income, a post office generated £16.20 for its local economy, said NEF.

The study comes as the government is expected to make its long expected announcement on the future of the rural post office network.