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FOR USE OF NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OFFICERS ONLY
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF SUBPOSTMASTERS
REPORT OF A
MEETING OF THE
NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
held on
25 to 27 June 2012
at
STRATFORD HOTEL
STRATFORD UPON AVON
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Report of a Meeting of the
National Executive Council
held on Monday-Wednesday, 25 to 27 June 2012
at Stratford Hotel,
Stratford upon Avon
Those present: Mrs Bhavna Desai National President and Chairman
Mr Andrew Craddock
Mr Andrew Gilhooly
Mr Paul Haines
Mr Stephen Harper
Mr Nilesh Joshi
Mrs Kym Ledgar
Ms Kam Matharu
Mr David Milner
Mr Jim Nott
Mr lan Park
Mr Keith Richards Part
tn attendance: Mr George Thomson _—_ General Secretary
Ms Marilyn Stoddart Assistant General Secretary
Mr Mervyn Jones Part
Apologies: None received
The National President.welcomed.evervane..to..the. meeting. She wished Sharon
Merryweather _. RO I and offered thanks for
Sharon's hard work at Conference. Keith Richards would be joining the meeting on
Tuesday 26 June.
1. REPORTS & RESOLUTIONS
(a) The Minutes of the Executive Council meeting of 19-22 March
2012 were signed as a true record. [DECISION
(b) The Resolutions passed at the Executive Council meeting of 19-
22 March 2012 were signed as a true record. DECISION
(c) There were no matters arising from the meeting of 19-22 March
2012.
(d) The Minutes of the Executive Council meeting of 20 May 2012
were signed as a true record. DECISION)
(e) The Resolutions passed at the Executive Council meeting of 20
May 2012 were signed as a true record. DECISION
(f) There were no matters arising from the meeting of 20 May 2012.
(g) The Minutes of the Executive Council meeting of 23 May 2012
were signed as a true record. DECISION
(h) There were no matters arising from the meeting of 23 May 2012.
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FUTURE OF THE NETWORK
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Executive Council Meeting 25 = 27 June 2012 Page 2 of 23
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cS) Natiodat Federation of SubPostmasters
(d) Mains and Locals Contract Issues
The General Secretary thanked Marilyn Stoddart, Andrew
Gilhooly and Andrew Craddock for the work they had done
on the contracts. The contracts had still not been agreed.
Copies of the draft contracts had been given to Commercial
Contracts specialist. Marilyn Stoddart and Andrew Gilhooly
will have a meeting with the lawyers in Edinburgh.
Need to tet! members that there had been a team working on
the contracts to make them as good as they could get and
these have now been handed over to commercial contract
specialists. It is a voluntary scheme and it has to be the
Subpostmasters choice to sign and change their contract.
95% of the draft contracts will remain. The NFSP has
succeeded in scraping the waivers, the company to company
requirement and have obtained a three year income
guarantee.
Concern raised that Co-op’s would be dealt with separately
under section 17 of the contract and culpability issues.
There are no differences in culpability.
Waivers in the past have always been temporary. There
may be an issue that some relocated offices may be dealt
with differently and that their waivers could be more
permanent. This issue is being addressed.
The need to ensure that when dealing with members on the
new contracts it is carefully positioned.
Individuals need to take their own view on the contracts as
what may be beneficial to one may not be to another as their
circumstances are different.
The NFSP are pushing back on accretion of goodwill, private
retail business and extended hours. Also extended hours for
peak demands ie: Olympics.
Any draft contract on Locals going back 3 years and existing
Mains under the pilots signed will be migrated to the new
contracts when they are agreed.
There should be a refund of an element of the liability waiver.
Kym Ledgar will send to Marilyn Stoddart, Andrew Craddock
and Andrew Gilhooly a copy of the part of a contract that had
been sent out which made reference to goodwill. {
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(c) Horizon
npn
° The NC will have a meeting at Fujitsu at Bracknell in July to
ascertain why the system falls over and what can be done to
solve problems.
( . Need to ascertain what detections are in place when failures
occur.
. The NC will report back to the EC on what improvements will
be made.
* POL have called for a full, external forensic accountants
Second Insight, review into the Horizon system. This is
because pressure had been put upon Paula Vennells by
MPs who are challenging that the system is flawed. This has
emanated from 10 cases where people have contacted their
MPs after audits had taken place and losses found. Some of
these have had their contracts terminated and some have
been to court. POL are only reviewing the 10 cases.
. The Federation had never been consulted on the review.
° The NFSP has always defended the robustness of the
accountancy of the system.
* There are 70 million transactions conducted on the Horizon
( system every week.
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Executive Council Meeting 25-27 June 2012—~—~SCS
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CONFERENCE 2012
Apologies offered for the fact that obituaries were not passed
on to the then incumbent President to read out at
Conference. There had been seven names on the list.
These are recorded only as and when HQ were notified of a
death.
Mr Milner proposed “That to ensure the names of those
members who have passed away is reinstated as part of the
National President's opening speech at Conference next
year and we include those members who were omitted this
year”. The proposal was carried.
Obituaries are already published in the Subpostmaster
magazine.
Reported that Peter Finlay, Chairman of the Standing Orders
Committee had sent an email to Committee members asking
for their views specifically on card votes and breakout
sessions. Any feedback received will be circulated to
Executive Officers.
General consensus of the Executive Council was that card
votes should not take place at future conferences.
Motions carried and not carried had been listed in a
circulation dated 7 June. This also showed suggested brief
annotations of how the motions should be dealt with.
The National President read out the numbers of each of the
motions carried and the suggested way to take forward.
These were all agreed.
The National President reported that ten of the Motions were
to be dealt with by the Negotiating Committee and requested
that the NC might consider asking other EC members for any
help they require with these.
There had been a rule change at Conference and the new
Rules will be circulated to the Executive Council.
Normal practice had been that a report of the Open Debates
would be published in the Subpostmaster Magazine six
months after conference.
The first year that open debates were on the Conference
agenda the relevant Executive Officer who had contributed to
each open debate had produced a précis and this was
published in the Subpostmaster Magazine. Later in the year
POL reported on those points. This process proved not to be
successful.
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[DECISION/ACTION
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sal Federation of SubPostmasters
Last year the open debates were more of a strategic nature.
These were ongoing issues that were updated throughout
the year via the Subpostmaster, Website and BSC’s.
This year there had been a motion after each Open Debate
apart from the Operational Open Debate.
Suggested that going forward there could be a report on the
emergency motion tabled after each debate. Will need to
report on the progress on these over the course of the year,
Will need to cover off the open debate on operational issues
throughout the course of the year.
Reported that Post Office Limited's support with regard to the
exhibition and donations was generally very good.
Post Office representation at conference itself was abysmal.
There were times when no POL representatives were
present. There were times when only Stephanie Ulgiati was
present.
Request that the General Secretary go back to POL and let
them know the Executive Council were disgusted with their
lack of representation in the conference hall.
Being sought by various teams from POL is a transcript of
Conference. It has become apparent that POL have very
few notes.
POL have now been provided with access to the recording of
conference that is on the NFSP website.
During the closed session where all visitors apart from POL
were excluded there was not one representative from POL.
A meeting is being organised to consider the reportage of
conference and to request that next years conference is
properly observed.
8. CONFERENCE 2013
Conference 2013 will be hosted in Torquay.
On the debate at conference 2012 there appeared to be an
enthusiasm for break-out groups.
The North East Region’s delegates were located at the
Palace Hotel this year. The benefits outweighed the
logistics. The North East would be happy to go back to the
Palace. Suggested that other regions should take their turn.
Suggested that a presentation be given to Conference on
Mutualisation.
Paul Haines asked the Executive Council if they could
provide him with suggestions for the theme of the Gala
Dinner. Schoolboys/girls and Star Wars had already been
suggested. Also suggested an Asian theme in
acknowledgement of the NFSP's first Asian President. He
asked for suggestions for the theme for the fundraising event
on the Monday.
The General Secretary believed that Conference for the next
few years should still run for three days.
Suggested that there is a need for a constructive speaker.
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Suggested that Paula Vennells, MD of POL should not give a
presentation at conference 2013.
The General Secretary reported that there would be a
speaker on mutualisation and possibly a government
speaker such as Francis Maude. Invitation to be given to
Diane Thompson, CEO of Camelot who is an inspirational
speaker. He believed there should be a speaker from Post
Office Limited.
Suggested a presentation/seminar/break-out group could be
given by someone from Royal Mail, First Rate and an expert
on small business retail.
Standing Orders should get from and give feedback to their
respective regions on the format on conference.
The number of motions brought to Conference 2012 did not
allow for time to be spent on having break-out groups. Some
feedback already received from members of the Standing
Orders Committee suggesting break-out groups for 2013.
This being the case the number of motions will need to
reduced, constructive and forward looking.
Need to encourage newer delegates to speak at the podium.
9. REPORT OF THE INTERNAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
(a) Membership
The Chairman, Paul Haines reported that the IDC’s number
one key was to drive membership.
The Committee looked forward to working with Andrew
Gilhooly, Membership, Recruitment and Retention Officer.
Regions had been identified that have to be targeted to
increase their membership.
NTEA need to recruit 63 members by September to keep 2
—O's. Midlands need 19 members to have 2 EO’s. North
West needs 100 to have 2 EO’s and Scotland is just in by 37
to keep 2 EO’s.
The General Secretary gave his assurance that because the
numbers used for membership in respect of the triennial
elections are up to 30 September, which is a Sunday, that if
any forms are received in the post on Monday 1 October, will
still count towards the figures.
Julia and Lisa are re-embarking on a recruitment exercise.
They have an Aide Memoire to help with recruiting.
Andrew Gilhooly asked that when he visits regions to recruit
he is accompanied by someone to drive him around.
Alan Seivwright will produce a route of offices to be visited if
he is provided with the non-members list. Shoreham will
provide the non-members list.
To achieve 80% membership density for the organisation
420 new members would need to be recruited. To achieve
78% density would require 230 new members.
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and reinstatements of Subpostmasters,
An A& script showing the top ten/twelve reasons for joining
the NFSP will be sent out to Branch Secretaries by mid-July.
Also show the things achieved such IBA.
Not only will Executive Officers receive notice of closures or
change of status but these will now be sent out to every
Regional Secretary and every Regional Membership Officer.
These details to be passed on to the Branches. The
Regional and Branch Officials will then ascertain what the
situation is with a particular office. Relocations will also be
sent out as well as consultation documents. These can all
trigger a recruitment visit to those premises.
New Subpostmasters receive a welcome pack from Post
Office Limited which includes a membership form to join the
NFSP.
Membership packs containing the application form and latest
edition of the Subpostmaster magazine can be obtained from
Lisa Harmsworth or Julia Goatcher. Should also insert top
reasons to join.
Executive Officers to ensure that they inform Shoreham of
their Regional Membership Officer's details.
Encouraged that recruitment is conducted at POL Training
for Subpostmasters sessions. Even if a region. recruits
outside of their area they will still be rewarded by payment
for their efforts.
Recruiters should ensure a summary of visits is sent to Lisa
Harmsworth at Shoreham. Preferably co-ordinated by the
Regional Secretary.
If someone in the past has benefited from 6 months free
membership and has subsequently resigned they will not be
entitled to 6 months free twice.
Local office operators will not receive 6 months free
i i tances.
Lisa Harmsworth needs to be informed of any suspensions
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Jeration of SubPostmaste:
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(d) Training
° The General Secretary had attended Time Management
Training.
° Currently trying to source training for the Trustees. This will _
eee be in late August or Early September for all Trustees. (ACTION)
Executive Council Meeting —_ ~~ 25-27 June 2042 Page 18 of 23
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13. FINANCE
(a) Treasurer's Report
« The Interim Financial Review had been circulated and
showed that year on year finances were static.
° The National Treasurer thanked the Council for their support .
in getting the 5% increase on subscriptions through €
Conference. This should enable the finances to break even
by the end of the year.
. The Accounts had been well accepted by Conference.
. Need to be mindful of Network Transformation and the
impact on membership levels.
. Need to look at representation rights on Locals and how they
can be supported.
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c) Moderation of Forum
Moderation ot re
«The Forum was pulled previously as it was being used as a
vehicle to criticise the NFSP.
* Conference had voted to have the Forum re-instated.
« The Forum will be reinstated on 1 August 2012.
« Need to inform members that ask why it has taken so long to €
reinstate between Conference and the beginning of August,
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that this is because it takes time to get up and running and
we have on board a new member of staff at Shoreham who
will responsible for the administration of it. Also the need to
have a Moderator.
¢ — Any attacks against the NFSP will be removed.
° Reported that a couple of member’s had shown interest in
becoming the Moderator.
* The Executive Council will make the determination on who is
appointed as Moderator.
* — According to the Rules the Moderator has to be a member of
the NFSP.
. Rule V(b) indicates that when the word member is stated in
the Rules it relates to full members unless otherwise stated.
* The Federation Rules do not allow for a member of the
Executive Council to hold the position of Moderator.
* Need to take cognisance of the word Moderator being
singular, therefore there can only be one.
. The position for Moderator will be advertised in a Branch
Secretaries Circular.
« Whoever moderates the Forum will need to be firm and
remove unacceptable posts. Warnings will need to be given
and if these are not adhered to then there should be a
banning process.
e A debate took place on whether a collective view should be
taken on Executive Officers going on or not going on the
Forum. The outcome being that it would be up to each i
individual if they chose to go on the Forum or not.
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Lynda Willoughby I
June 2012
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