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Prior to the 1930s, the Post Office structure was based upon the central Secretariat and decision-making was extremely centralised. London as a metropolitan district was arranged by service with a Controller of London Postal Services, London Telephone Service, and the Central Telegraph Service. The Surveyor/Postmaster Surveyor was the Postmaster General's principal representative for all the services in the provinces and these were arranged geographically, not by services (e.g. postal or telecommunications). Outside of Inner London, and excluding Edinburgh, the country was divided into 22 districts for Post Office purposes. Of these 13 were under the charge of Surveyors and nine (which were the largest towns within their surrounding area) were under the charge of Postmaster Surveyors. In Scotland, Post Office organisation was under the control of a Secretary in Edinburgh, responsible to the main Secretary to the Post Office. A controller was in charge of postal and telegraphs services in Edinburgh and the surrounding area.

Throughout the nineteenth century there were concerns that there was too much concentration of administration in Post Office Headquarters and at the turn of the twentieth century there was a marked increase in volume and complexity of administrative work, which put pressure on the higher officers. The Decentralisation Committee was established in 1908, amidst a rising fear that excessive centralisation of powers was leading to inefficiency and inflexibility. It was thought that the Secretariat formed a bottle neck in the operation of the Post Office, with a resulting waste of power and loss of efficiency, as those at the centre were too caught up in the minutiae and were unable to devote time to questions of policy. The Committee's aim was to consider redistribution of responsibilities and it made several recommendations along these lines. These were not taken up, as objections, particularly those of Herbert Samuel, Postmaster General, were strong and ultimately it was decided to retain the current structure with some very minor changes.

By the early 1930s, there was renewed concern about over centralisation of administration and in 1932 Viscount Wolmer produced a report entitled: 'Post Office Reform: Its importance and practicability', speaking out against the current organisation of the Post Office. Fuelled by this, criticism began to mount and culminated in a Memorial signed by over three hundred MPs and addressed to the Prime Minister requesting the appointment of a committee to enquire into the status and organisation of the Post Office, with a view to making any changes to its constitution that were seen as necessary to improve efficiency.

As a result of this, the Post Office Organisation Committee, chaired by Lord William Bridgeman, former Home Secretary (also known as the Bridgeman Committee) was set up and reported in 1932. Its terms of reference were as follows:

'To enquire and report as to whether any changes in the constitution, status or system of organisation of the Post Office would be in the public interest'.

The main recommendation of the Committee was that the GPO, though still part of the civil service, should be run like a large public corporation with a board headed by the Postmaster General and served by a Chief Executive instead of a Secretary. In addition, as a means of decentralising Post Office control, the Committee advised the division of the Post Office into geographical divisions, each with its own Regional Board which would execute the general policy formed at Headquarters.

In line with this recommendation, the establishment of eight regions was suggested, each to be in the charge of a regional director who would be responsible for the control and coordination of all Post Office services (post, telegraph and telephone) within his territory; this role would effectively replace that of Surveyor. To aid the work of the new regional director, substantial powers were to be delegated to them - in some cases the full powers of the Postmaster General. A Regional Board would assist the Regional Director and devolved powers were to be given to Head Postmasters and Telephone Managers, who were next in the line of authority. In London, two regional organisations were to be set up to deal respectively with posts and telecommunications.

The Committee on Metropolitan and Regional Organisation, chaired by Thomas Gardiner (also known as the Gardiner Committee) was set up to implement the recommendations outlined in the Bridgeman report and immediately commenced working out plans for decentralising control.

One of their recommendations was that special committees for each Headquarters Department should examine the prospects for devolution. Reports are included within this class on the subject.

The scheme which emerged from the Gardiner Committee was based upon organisation under a Regional Director, with technical and financial guidance from the Engineer-in-Chief and the Comptroller and Accountant General, except in London where there would be separate telecommunications and postal Regions.

Implementation of complex changes began on an experimental basis in March 1936, when two regions were established (Scotland and the North East). In 1938 this experiment was deemed to be a success, and the remaining regions and telephone areas were established on a systematic plan. In 1939 the North Western region was inaugurated, and a sub-region in Northern Ireland as well as a number of telephone regions outside of the established regions. By the middle of 1940 the Home Counties, Midland, South Western and Welsh and Border Counties regions had full stature. The London Postal Region was organised in October 1936, and the London Telecommunications Region in April 1938.

The Bridgeman Committee had been anxious that communication should be maintained between all sections of the business and as part of this, regional directors were encouraged to visit one another's regions and exchange views and information. Close contact between the regions and headquarters was also encouraged with proposals for the interchange of staff.

In 1951, a report was prepared by the Working Party on Regionalisation (chaired by Lumley) on 'The present system of regionalisation in the Post Office' (GPO, October 1951). Its terms of reference were 'To examine within its existing framework the working of the regional organisation of the Post Office and to recommend any changes which appear desirable in the light of experience, with an estimate of any financial effect thereof; and in particular to report, with recommendations, on the following matters:

a) Whether existing devolved powers were being fully exercised at each level of the structure

b) Whether further devolution was practicable and desirable in present conditions

c) Whether any work now being done at Headquarters or in Headquarters Departments should be transferred elsewhere and whether any work now being done at Regions should be transferred to lower formations

d) Whether the instruments of control in operation are adequate and no more than adequate to ensure the efficiency and economy of the services.

The Working Party generally commended the prevailing situation with certain recommendations regarding the continued monitoring of the Regional set up to ensure its continued efficiency.

At this point, the Post Office was run by the Postmaster General (assisted by the Assistant PMG) as the Head of the Post Office; in addition he was the Chairman of the Post Office Board, a body consisting of principal permanent officials of the department and responsible for policy decisions. The work of the Post Office was divided into five main functions including Postal services, Telecommunications services, Engineering services, Establishments, staff and buildings, and Finance. These functions were carried down into the regional organisations which in 1951 consisted of ten territorial regions spread over Great Britain and Northern Ireland as follows; London (Postal), London (Telecommunications), Home Counties, South Western, Midland, Welsh and Border Counties, North Eastern, North Western, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. These were still under the control of the regional directors. At least two regional directors were members of the main Post Office Board. In order to ensure cooperation and sharing of information, five or six conferences a year were attended by all Regional Directors under the chairmanship of the Postmaster General. The Regional Directors also held private meetings under their own chairman. This situation was replicated at lower levels with regular conferences held of regional controllers, Chief Regional Engineers, and finance officers.

In April 1965 a proposal was put forward to split the Home Counties Region into two separate regions: the Eastern Region and South Eastern Region respectively, this proposal was approved and the action subsequently went ahead.

In 1966 the House of Commons Select Committee on the nationalised industries investigated 'devolution and control' in the Post Office.

As a result of this investigation, it was decided that further devolution would be advisable with regard to the administrative structure of the Post Office; the main focus being a split of the current Post Office Regions into separate postal and telecommunications functions. On 1 November 1966, the DEO (Director of Establishments and Organisation) delivered a memorandum at the Post Office Reorganisation Steering Group meeting on Functional split of Regions.

The official functional split of the Regions came with the passing of the Post Office Act in 1969; under the Act, the Post Office ceased to be a government department and was established as one corporation split into two divisions: Post and Telecommunications.