a
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STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
FOR USE OF NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OFFICERS ONLY
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF SUB-POSTMASTERS
REPORT OF A MEETING
OF THE
NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
held on
9 10", 11 JANUARY 2000
at
THE MOSTYN HOTEL
LONDON
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AGENDA
JANUARY 2000
REPORTS AND RESOLUTIONS of the
Executive Council Meeting held on 18, 19, and 20 October 1999
Special Executive Council Meeting held on 2nd December 1999
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE REPORTS
REPORT OF THE NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE
The following reports refer:-
NC Committee Meeting 7 October 1999
1. Post Office Board
(a) Board... . POBD
(b) Shaping up for Competitive Success.........04. .. PO BD 03
2. vel ent Affai
The Post Office Inquiry - Trade and Industry Committee....PO PZ,
3. Post Office Counters
(a) Post Office Counters Board... .. PO PC 02 NR
(b) Organisation Development ..........secesee PO PC 03
4. Off-Shore Islands
(a) Guernsey. NR
(D) Isle of Matsscsssssssstsssssessssessssnesnssnsessenssnstsessenseseee OI IM NR
(c) Jersey. NR
1
Revised 4.1.2000
* indicates alteration or addition to previously circulated Agenda
20.
21.
22.
23.
POCL CLIENTS
Benefits Agency
Pensions
British Broadcasti
TV Licencing
British Gas
British Telec
BT Global Calling Cards
Electricity Boards
Foreign Exchange
Girobank
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saseesssessnsecssseessnesssensenssscensnecssanessneensaes CL BA 03 NR
CL BC 03 NR
CL BT 05 NR*
(a) Giro Business Deposits......scssessessesecsesssesseeesersessneenee CL GB0807 NR*
(b) Winter Fuel Payments ..
(c) Corporate Deposits ....csceeeeeene ssseeseceessesseeteneaneseee CLGB0815 NR
Insurance
Local Authorities
Lotteries
National
Lottery
Prize Payments
Satellite Sites
CLGB0812 NR*
CLLOO1 NR
4
Revised 4.1.2000
* indicates alteration or addition to previously circulated Agenda
24,
25.
26,
27,
28.
29.
30.
31,
32,
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Mobile C icati
Pre-Pay VOUCHETS ....ssssessssssevessseressssssecsccssnseecesennecessnnecessane CL MC 02 NR
National Savings
». CLNS 01
(a) NFSP/DNS meeting
(b) Marketing.....sssessssesnnasusssiusisienne CLNS O03 NR
(c) Pensioners Guarantee Income Bonds .. s CL NS 07 09*
(d) Fixed Rate Savings Bonds......ccsssscsssessssseecseesnseesnesses CL NS 07 10*
{e) ISAs - Crossed Warrants v..cccssssssssessssneesesneennissceseees CLNS 0708 NR
Passport Agency
Personal Banking
Parcelforce
Residential Delivery Trial .......cesscssccsesssesssessesseesseesseeneesens CL PF 05 02
Royal Mail
(a) Format Based Pricing ..
CL RM 04 NR
(b) Millennium Moment... sssssecssssesssecsssecesseccsereseeesen CL RM 05 06
NR*
Utilities CL UT ...eeessessssecssesseessersessnessssseeonsssssnessnneesneersne NR
DVLA
Motor Vehicle Licences .....sssssssssesessssssresesssseessssseeseessseessssiee CLVL 0402 NR
Organisations .......cccccsssssesesesssssseeseesssessssssuuessesessssnneeeesees FM 0O NR
Revised 4.1.2000
* indicates alteration or addition to previously circulated Agenda
Al4
A/S
33,
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Conference Resolutions 1999
Post Office letter of 10th December A/3 and A/8 refers
99/RB1(F). Resolution 20 of 1999
99/RB1(Q)........Payment for certificates of posting
99/2,3 . Product payments
99/4 Training sessions National Minimum Wage
99/5 Recovery of loss of assigned office
99/6 Pay for double payment days
99/1 Automation payments policy
99/1
Payment for selling Postal Orders
99/15 .. Payment for promoting products
99/18 to 22 Review of holiday, sickness substitution allowance agreement
99/23 .. Higher share of contract prices ¢
New disciplinary guidelines
Greater commercial freedom
Recruitment scale - MSPOs
Appeals procedure
. Extended hours of business trial
. Extension of hours outside core hours
3 months termination of contract, extend to 6, where no loss of
funds
. Subpostmasters callout to alarm without police support
. Security improvements by POCL, agreed time scale
NACOS approved security engineers
nified repair package for approved schemes
. Losses during Cashco deliveries
..Cashco deliveries outside normal hours
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
PUBLICITY & DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
REPORT OF PREVIOUS MEETING
2 & 3 November 1999
Matters arising from Previous Meeting
6
Revised 4,1.2000
* indicates alteration or addition to previously circulated Agenda
(a)
b)
©
(@)
©
FEDERATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Annual Conference - 15-17 May 2000
Eastbourne
Horse Racing Night Format
Annual Conference - 14-16 May 2001
Llandudno
MEMBERSHIP
Membership Recruitment
Training Branch Secretaries (97/98)
FEDERATION PUBLICATIONS
Subpostmasters’ Handbook
FEDERATION PROMOTION & PUBLICITY
Caring for Customers Campaign
J Walter Thompson
FEDERATION PUBLIC RELATIONS
CONFERENCE MOTIONS 1999
Resolutions from Conference 1999
FM AC
FM AC 2000
FM AC 2001
FM MS 03
FM MS 04
FM PB
FM PB 02
FM PP
FM PP 04
FM PR
FUTURE DATES & VENUES OF P & D MEETINGS
17-18 April 2000 - Hydro Hotel, Eastbourne
FUTURE DATES AND VENUES OF EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETINGS
March 2000 Sunday 19- Wednesday 22 March Westmead Hotel
Birmingham
June 2000 Monday 19 - Wednesday 21 June TBC
October 2000 = Monday 16 - Wednesday 18 October TBC
January 2001 Sunday 7 - Tuesday 9 January
B) FEDERATION TRUSTEES REPORT
Cc) NEVOLEN:
7
TBC
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* indicates alteration or addition to previously circulated Agenda
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D) CENTENARY CHARITIES
A/6 SPECIAL MATTERS
A) MEMBERSHIP
(i) Membership Statistics . FI MR 04
(ii) I Propaganda Reports... FM OG 05
B) FINAN
(i) Treasurer’s Repo! FI AC 02
Gi). Branch & Fa
Regional Accounts Year Ending 31.12.99 FIAC 01 A
(iii) Interim Financial Review ..... FI AC 02
(iv) Conference Grant to Delegates FM AC
(v) Vacancy for National Treasure: FM 0G 01*
(vi) Union Facilities. PC HR 03
C) JOURNAL
(i) Editor’s Report FM PB 01
D) ‘TRADING
(i) “Insurance .......... FI ES 02
A/T CONFERENCE RESOLUTIONS PRIOR 1999 (4
\
A/8 CONFERENCE RESOLUTIONS 1999
A/9 MOTIONS TO THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL*
Mike Challinor
That Executive Council investigate with some urgency, the possible income benefits that may
be gained by Subpostmasters through the introduction of The Competition Act 1998.
8
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A/10
A/10
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DEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE
(A) FOR DISCUSSION
POST OFFICE COUNTERS LIMITED
Network
1. (a) Weekly Summary of Stock Issue and Reconciliation... PC NW 08 01
SubPostmaster’s Contract
2. Christmas and New Year Arrangements 1999/2000 .... PC SC 05 01*
POCL CLIENTS
Royal Mail
3. Royal Mail Tarrif Charges ...sscsuessssssecssseesssesesneeeennnee CL RM 06 01*
(B) FOR INFORMATION
Human Resources
1. (a) Produce Knowledge - Cessation of Events.
(b) Subpostmasters Renumeration - December 199:
(c) Form P2593 Appliction for Leave of Absence...
Network
2. (a) Shortage of £10 and £20 notes ...
(b) P944 Redirection Form Distributio
Quality
3. (a) Christmas Card Recycling Scheme ........cesssssecessseenee PC QY 03
9
Revised 4,1.2000
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A/I1
A/12
A/I3
A/14
A/I5
A/16
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I
i
i
4. (b) Leave of Absence - Revised Form. PCSC15 I
Girobank
5, Encashment of Co-op Bank Cheques .........004 sreessseeeteee CL GB 08 16
~ Revision of Daily Summary Form
6. Lottery
Lottery Scratch Cards CL LO 01*
National Savi
7. Counter Products CLNS 07 (
- Interest Rates
8. Royal Mail
- Inland and International Postal Prices ......cscssssessseeenses CL RM 04*
REPORT ON CENTRAL APPEALS
GENERAL SECRETARY'S REPORT
Employment Tribunal - Mrs Elizabeth Bain
- Miss E Austin ¢
NFSP Representation/Consultation Arrangements
NFSP TRADING LIMITED
EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S REPORTS
MATTERS RECEIVED TOO LATE FOR INCLUSION ON AGENDA
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
10
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* indicates alteration or addition to previously circulated Agenda
REPORT OF A MEETING OF THE
_ NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
held on 9th, 10th and 11th January 2000
at The Mostyn Hotel
London
Present Mrs Jean Kendall, National President and Chairman
Mr N Bradbrook Mr C Jones
Mr J E M Burford Mr 1 McLean
Mr AR Butlin Mr D F Marshall
Mr M Challinor Mr H Morgan-Jones
Mr M Darvill Mr J Peberdy
Mr BG Ingham Mrs S Reeves
Mr J Jannetta Mr P Walsh
Mrs P M Jenkins Mr J Willshaw
Mrs, P. Jervis
In Attendance: Mr C Baker General Secretary
7 Mr P Heasman Assistant General Secretary
Apologies: Mr R Edmondson
THE CHAIRMAN had received a letter from Mr Edmondson, which she read
to the Council. He sent his apologies for not attending the meeting and went
on to give his reasons for his resignation as National Treasurer and
withdrawal from the nomination of National President for the coming year. He
finished by urging the Federation to only spend money if it was vital and
emphasised the necessity to bring more money into the organisation.
MR INGHAM had also written to the National President with a letter of
resignation. This was to be his last Executive Council meeting, which with
the President's permission, he would leave on the Tuesday, in order to hand
his post office over to the new appointee the following day. The Committee
joined THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT in wishing Mr Ingham well for the future.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING - JANUARY 2000 PAGE 1
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Irrelevant
Alt RE ie) le) E EETI
Executive Council Meeting held on 18, 19, and 20 October 1999
Special Executive Council Meeting held on 2nd December 1999
THE CHAIRMAN reported that a number of inaccuracies within this report had
been brought to her attention and she sought Council's approval to consult
with Marian Jones, (Mr Davis' secretary) on the necessary amendments.
However, she acknowledged that this report had been produced under a
considerable amount of pressure of workload by Mrs Jones and her colleague (
at that time, Ms Duke, and she congratulated them of the job they had done.
A/2 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE REPORTS
There were none.
Page 2 EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING - JANUARY 2000
1. Post Office Board
1a) Board PO PD
The Post Office had announced a half year pre tax loss of £386 million which
it had blamed on the £571 million spend on Horizon. This therefore meant
that Royal Mail had pre tax profits of £151 million, which was down £67
million.
1b) Shaping up for Competitive Success PO BD 03
MR PEBERDY referred to the circulation of 2nd November concerning the
launch of SCS. It gave information on how each business unit was trading
with each other. The Negotiating Committee believed that this was done to
show how it will streamline The Post Office but they were still waiting for
written confirmation of the Federation's relationship with the rest of The Post
Office.
MR JANNETTA questioned whether all of the SCS papers were sent to
Shoreham. MR PEBERDY advised that they were sent intermittently. They
were management documents dealing with internal issues which were
relevant to the Federation.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY reported that Jonathan Evans had taken the
baton over and strategy meetings had been held, in which a good relationship
was developing. The next Union Strategy meeting was scheduled for the end
of the coming week and the intention was to interact with Stuart Sweetman’s
representatives. It was also hoped to interact with other businesses such as
Cashco, which was the responsibility of other individuals. He described the
relationship as ‘still in the writing stages of the headlines’.
2. Government Affairs
The Post Office Inquiry - Trade and Industry Committee PO PZ
This heading incorporated the Horizon Working Group, Performance
Innovation Unit (PIU) and the ACT Campaign. Correspondence had been
circulated, and MR PEBERDY referred to the fact that the Government had
responded to the Select Committee. The Federation had given evidence to
both Select Committees, one on Horizon and one on the Post Office White
Paper and since then the Government had put their responses forward. It
was formally announced in Parliament that there would be a Post Office Bill
which was due to get passage through The House in mid to late Spring. The
Government had fudged to some degree the Monopoly situation. In their
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response they had re-stated their commitment to a network and also said that
they were passing the matter to the PIU who were looking at the viability of
the network.
Horizon
The Government had re-stated that the Benefits Payment Card was old
technology, therefore it was dead. They had clearly fudged the issued on
ACT and passed this to the PIU.
They saw the Horizon Working Group as the key to the success of the
commercial exploitation of the Horizon project. Part of the Horizon Working
Group's remit was to see what new business could be brought to post offices
through the Horizon Platform, this was part of the Terms of Reference.
Government was definite that they would not be pulling back from their
decision to move to compulsory ACT in 2003.
The work being carried out by the Horizon Working Group had been done in
restricted commercial confidence. However, the submissions to the PIU had
been leaked to the press and this had given the General Secretary the
opportunity to circulate it to the Executive Council. However he urged the
Council to treat it with the confidence it deserved.
Federati i
MR PEBERDY reported that the campaign was well on the way. There had
been a lot of press activity over the Christmas and New Period, with several
references to the Federation. The Executive Council and branches had been
supplied with further briefing information. The Committee was circulated
correspondence confirming a meeting, organised by VIRSA, with the Mothers'
Union. This would be attended by several organisations who it was
considered would be very helpful lobbyists as they had a reputation for
speaking about things near and deal to people's hearts.
Early Day Motions and debates on the subject were becoming a regular
feature. A lot of weighty signatures had been received, some from Labour
MPs who were worried about what was happening. ACT was to be the
subject of question number 10 during Prime Minister's Question Time.
Unfortunately time had not allowed that question to be reached, but it was
reported that the Prime Minister had been briefed in preparation for it.
MR PEBERDY referred to the press release that had been embargoed until
27th December, in which Stephen Byers had tried to deflect concerns by
saying that the public would have a say as to whether their post offices
closed. However, he believed that if the public was to tell the Regulator that
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they wanted their post offices to remain open, then he would pay for those
offices to stay if they were not viable.
MR PEBERDY advised that later that week Mr Peberdy and the General
Secretary were to meet with Oliver Letwin at the House of Commons to speak
with some cross party MPs and the Committee would be kept informed.
The latest correspondence proposed moving the campaign forward to the
next stage of the lobby and petitions. MR PEBERDY referred to the work
being done by in South Wales, South West Region and also in Scotland. The
Western Daily Press had mailed a copy of their paper containing petition
forms to every subpostmaster in the country. They had been supplied with
the Federation's membership list for that purpose and had given an
undertaking that this information would not be used for any other purpose.
The petitions would be sent to Shoreham and a decision could be made when
to take them to Downing Street.
Posters were to be included in the January edition of The SubPostmaster. It
was important that the campaign did not peak too soon. THE GENERAL
SECRETARY reported that The Scottish Daily Express and the Western Daily
Express were running their own campaign with petitions and posters. The
Federation had been drawn into supporting them, even thought it had been
considered that it was too early for such action. The petitions would be
presented to the Prime Minister when the time was considered to be right. He
described the timing as critical as he believed that the Government may delay
until all the subpostmasters’ support had been exerted, and the public had
lost interest, before taking their own action. It was thought that at the end of
March the PIU would be reporting and it was known that the Government's
response with regard to the network was that the PIU who was looking after it.
Around this time it was considered that The Post Office Bill would start to
have an impact and John Roberts’ viability project was due for completion.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY referred to the criticism that had been made
about the Federation not doing anything. He considered that it was much
more difficult to lead from the back, and that although it appeared that nothing
was happening, the Federation had been there to make sure that people had
been campaigning of its behalf. Organisations such a Mother’ Union, Age
Concern, National Federation of Women’s Institutes and ACRE who were
championing the cause,. could do so without being accused of
scaremongering as the Federation would be. Both Oliver Letwin MP and lan
Bruce MP had sent copies of a general letter they had received from Alan
Johnson and expressed concern about the present Government policy.
THE COMMITTEE was pleased that they were now able to be seen to be
supporting the campaigns being run by their local newspapers. It had been
very difficult not being able to let members know what the Federation was
doing behind the scenes.
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MR BUTLIN questioned what the position was on the distribution of the
wraparounds, as some subpostmasters in the SWSW region had not received
them. This had not been too much of a problem prior to Christmas and the
New Year as people had been too busy to circulate them. However, now they
were able to do so MR BUTLIN was keen that this be done as quickly as
possible.
MR HEASMAN reported that there had been problems with the distributions
which were being done by Parcelforce. The Federation would not have
chosen to use Parcelforce, due to the political element and the implications of
that. However, the printers had chosen to use them as carriers, opting for
distribution on a 48 hour delivery. He believed that only one delivery had
actually been made within that time scale, and that was the largest of them
all, to Northern Ireland! MR HEASMAN referred to recent BSCs, where he
had been asking branches to supply him with evidence of late deliveries, and
part deliveries. He had given instructions to J Walter Thompson and to the
printers not to pay any invoices, as he was in the process of gathering
information in order to get some reduction on the cost of the deliveries and he
urged the Committee to let him know if they knew of any such instances. He
had also had difficulty in getting information from Branch Secretaries, as to
the delivery addresses of the wraparounds, despite requests in BSCs and
letters to Executive Officers asking for this information. He was reluctant to
send them to the Branch Secretaries without confirmation that this was
acceptable because some of the parcels were large, and without knowing the
size of their offices he could not know if they had sufficient storage space for
them. He was still waiting to hear from ten branches: Bedford, Bicester,
Chiltern, Hertfordshire, London East, London South East, London South
West, Middlesborough, Northampton & District and Peterborough.
THE CHAIRMAN requested that Executive Officers of these areas chase up
the branches concerned.
MR HEASMAN advised that some branches wanted further supplies, and he
considered that those not claimed were better going to these branches than
sitting in a warehouse, waiting for a branch to respond. He felt therefore that
there must come a point where they would be allocated to other branches.
MISS LINDON referred to a letter that she believed had been sent to
Shoreham from Frank Field. The points contained in the correspondence
were thought to be controversial and she was concerned that the Government
‘ think that they have got away with it’, and MISS LINDON asked if this letter
had been circulated as requested by Frank Field. THE GENERAL
SECRETARY replied that it had not been circulated even though he had
recelved correspondence from people who believed that it should be. The
reason why it was requested that it be circulated was because it was reported
that Frank Field had said that the Federation did not know what they were
doing and were not active enough. However, Frank Field had been the
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second signatory to an Early Day Motion and THE GENERAL SECRETARY
was hoping to speak with him at a meeting that coming week. He believed
that he was trying to provoke a reaction from the Federation in that they
would ‘ fire their Exocet too soon. THE GENERAL SECRETARY would be
writing to the subpostmaster concerned advising him that Mr Field has signed
the Early Day Motion on the same day that he wrote the letter.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY reminded the Committee that it was they who
must take the message back to their members. The Conservative Party had
not said that people could have pensions and allowances in cash at post
offices if they wanted to. It was ACT and no choice and therefore the
previous campaign was easier to target.
There were two reasons why it was necessary to apply things differently. It
was easy for the Government to say that people could have their benefit in
cash at post offices after 2003 and their ask why was the Federation
scaremongering. That was what they wanted to do. They were more robust
than the last government. He warned the Committee that they must not get
spooked into doing something too soon. They must be focused and targeted,
just as the Government was.
MRS JERVIS was concerned that this message was not getting across to the
members. They were telling the branches that if the Federation was not
going to do something, then they would do it themselves. This perception of
the Federation's apparent apathy was doing a lot of damage to the
Federation as an organisation.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY was just as concerned but re-iterated the
necessity for the campaign to be very slow burning. Alistair Darling had
copies of all of the Federation’s correspondence to members and they had a
machine better than any machine he had ever seen regarding intelligence.
They knew what the Federation was doing. The ACT campaign would be
built into a lobby and it would have the support of organisations such as
Mothers Union, Women's Institute, Country Alliance, Help the Aged. Not
everything could be revealed yet. THE GENERAL SECRETARY confirmed
that the Committee could advise their members of this support and this would
also be advised ina BSC
Discussion continued, highlighting local newspapers who had started petitions
in their areas and it was questioned whether The Western Daily Press doing a
national mailing would confuse the issue. THE GENERAL SECRETARY
thought that it might, and that is why the Federation had been reluctant to do
it, and it was important that they kept control. However, the Federation could
not afford to be accused of refusing to help. Several areas of the United
Kingdom were active with both newspaper and television involvement and the
campaign was gathering momentum.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING ~ JANUARY 2000 PAGE 7
MR PEBERDY advised that in an effort to assist Executive Council Officers
with answering members’ questions and concerns, the Negotiating
Committee had requested that going forward, the newspaper cuttings that
Shoreham received be sent to Officers on a weekly basis. With the editor's
permission an article would be going in the Journal to let members know what
was happening. MISS LINDON was happy to take on board any issues or
comments the Committee wanted to incorporate and reminded them that the
February edition also went to non members.
THE COMMITTEE turned to the question of the expenditure necessary for a
lobby and it was acknowledged that with things moving so quickly there may
not be time to obtain consent from the whole Executive Council on a spend.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY considered that this was the very thing that
branch and Federation funds were for and if every penny was spent, it would
have been spent correctly. He urged the Executive Council to put their whole
efforts into instilling on their members the importance of getting them to
London on the day of the lobby, and supporting it, because their very
livelihoods depended on it.
3. POST OFFICE COUNTERS
3a) Post Office Counters Board PO PC 02
Board changes seemed to have settled down and the Federation would now
need to build relationships at every level.
3b) Organisation Development PO PC 03
MR PEBERDY referred to the papers circulated in relation to a meeting that
he, The General Secretary and Kevin Davis had held with Bruce McNiven
regarding the changes. It indicated that RNMs and HORNS were going. It
had been hoped that more information would be available before the end of
last year, but this had not been the case and until it was known how the
Federation was going to interface with the new set up there was little that
could be done.
4. OFFSHORE ISLANDS
4a) Guernsey OI GY
Nothing to report
4b) Isle of Man 10 IM
Nothing te report
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4c) Jersey OLY
Nothing to report
POST OFFICE COUNTERS LIMITED
5. Commercial
Nothing to report
6. Euro Programme PC EU 01
Euro Programme and European Monetary Union
Nothing to report.
7. Human Resources
7a) HRSAPs ‘ PC HR 06
MR PEBERDY reported that subpostmasters had experienced problems with
their December remuneration in that incorrect payments had been made for
Motor Vehicle Licence Stamps, Television Stamps and Telephone Stamps.
During the recent pay meeting the Negotiating Committee made their feelings
known to Mike Granville and obtained an assurance that these overpayments
would not be reclaimed from subpostmasters until the money owing, such as
the new Family Tax Credits arrears and RPP could be paid in the same
month. It had been agreed that this would be done in January.
Mr Davis had met with the new General Manager of HR Services Steve Bell.
Kay Hartigan had responded to Mr Davis’ letter to Dave Miller, and it was felt
that although errors were occurring, an effort was being made and fewer
complaints had been coming into Federation Headquarters from
subpostmasters on this subject.
On the Service Level Agreement the Negotiating Committee was trying to get
in place an arrangement where everything was sorted within a certain number
of days and Mr Davis was due to have another meeting with Steve Bell on
9" February 2000.
MR WILLSHAW highlighted the fact that some people paying money to the
Benevolent Fund from their salaries by standing order had not had any
money taken from them for some time and he suggested that letters be sent
to the donators asking them if this was the case. MR PEBERDY advised that
the Service Centre was saying that they were not aware of any instances
where this had happened and he called upon Council to let Mr Davis have
examples of people who were thus affected. MR MORGAN JONES had
found that although no deduction was shown, if the figure work was checked,
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING - JANUARY 2000 PAGE 9
it could be seen that these deductions had in fact been made.
MR JANNETTA confirmed that contributions from Scottish subpostmasters
made to a local charity, did not appear on the pay slips but had been
deducted.
MR PEBERDY also requested examples from anyone who thought their
printouts to be incorrect, as they had been assured that these had now been
put right.
Irrelevant
9. Network
9a) Network Forums PC NW 01
The outputs of the Network Forum meeting of 22” January had been
circulated but MR PEBERDY advised that it had not been a particularly
constructive meeting. Conditions of Appointment and the revision of the
Losses and Gains Policy had been discussed but they had incomplete copies
of the policies and therefore little progress could be made. Concerns had
been raised by the Negotiating Committee about negative press in relation to
automation and the Benefits Agency, information was being distorted, and
they requested that they produce some proactive briefing.
It had been agreed to have regular Network Forum meetings every two
months.
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The Negotiating Committee had been very disappointed to find that it was
expected that 207 offices would close during the period of April and October.
MPs had said 200 offices per year but on these figures it would be around
400 for this year.
9b) Consultation of Network Issues PC NW 02
Nothing to report
9c) Counter Automation - BA/POCL PC NW O6 01
Information had been received concerning Horizon Field Support Officers.
MR PEBERDY suggested that this subject should be moved to another part
of the agenda, to have its own identity rather be under Network. The Horizon
Working Group discussions had been circulated and it was considered that
these were more appropriate to the earlier discussions.
MR PEBERDY referred to the proposals for modifications using the
Discretionary Fund money and the response of the orange paper circulated.
As a result of the votes received, (5 in favour, 4 wanting a debate) the matter
is now being debated and a sub committee was formed to talk with the Post
Office and he, Mr Cyril Jones and The General Secretary had held their first
meeting at St Albans. He went on to explain that the date of 31*' December
had been critical because The Post Office, in their contract with ICL Pathway
had a requirement to provide them with Horizon compliant offices by that
date.. If they did not meet this time scale then the agreement would change
from ICL Pathway meeting some of the costs of modifications to it wholly
being the responsibility of Post Office Counters Ltd. During their meeting it
was thought that this could be avoided by using some other monies on a
similar basis as the ISIS project for subpostmasters to clear a massive
number of these offices, which had been thrown into that ‘ big black whole’.
This would leave only around 100 offices that required a major spend, for
example where walls of terraced houses had to be demolished.
MR PEBERDY invited those Executive Officers who had voted for a debate
on the subject to do so.
MR BRADBROOK considered the figures about costs given for offices and
the fact that their were only around 100 offices that would require a major
spend, to be false. He knew of offices in his area that only required some re-
wiring to make them compliant. Most offices in his area required only one
day's work, He considered that the amount of spend over estimated for these
offices could be used to fit up to 1,000 other offices.
MR PEBERDY requested that if Mr Bradbrook knew of an office that was a
‘no solution’ office and only needed minor work to be carried out, to supply
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him with details. The £2,500 spend did not apply to each office, only to ‘ no -
solution’ offices which was thought to be around 487. With those sums of
money involved it was decided to look for a reconstituted deal of how much
ICL Pathway would contribute.
MR WILLSHAW had spoken to the General Secretary about the need for a
debate, he wanted to know what other people thought and he found the
system of orange papers distressing. He had faxed correspondence to the
General Secretary with regard to compensation for offices that were to be
moved or re-located. If they were re-located what was the position with
regard to the introductory fee? Would there be any grasping back of money
at POCL that they should be aware of?
MRS JERVIS, although voting for a debate, asked whether any agreement
had been made the POCL, because if it had then this debate was pointless.
If an office was re-located, then fees had to be paid and there was no
indication in the letter as to what was happening. She questioned whether ¢
those offices re-locating would be bound by the Conditions of Appointment
which stated that they would be required to have corporate carpeting or paint
work. It was not clear.
In response to Mr Willshaw’s and Mrs Jervis’ remarks MR PEBERDY advised
that subpostmasters of those offices that needed very major changes would
be given a choice. If a subpostmaster knew of premises locally and was
willing to move, then no relocation fee would be charged. If the
subpostmaster was to go, and the office was re-located, then a fee would be
applicable. Under these circumstances 10% of that re-location fee under the
current deal would go back to the Discretionary Fund.
MR PEBERDY advised that the agreement had not been accepted because it
needed to be debated and it was up to the Council what the decision would
be.
In reply to the second part of Mrs Jervis’ question concerning carpeting and
paint work THE GENERAL SECRETARY. advised that this was not an
Horizon issue. The post office that the subpostmaster was relocating to, by
definition had to be Horizon fit. He accepted that some subpostmasters
would want to repaint and maybe re-carpet their new offices, but he urged
Council to help subpostmasters who did not want to, to resist any pressure to
do so.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY assured Council that to take £% million from
the Discretionary Fund was good housekeeping because if the Fund
exceeded £4 million, which it did at present, then a different funding was
applied. However this would be explained at the appropriate part of the
agenda.
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MR BUTLIN considered that this was a very good offer, it would free up 80
offices therefore acheiving its objective. {t would leave 20 offices as ‘no
solution’ but that was not many considering the number of offices in the
country. He proposed that this office be accepted. This was seconded and
CARRIED.
THE COMMITTEE discussed the letters that the Benefits Agency had
distributed, advising claimants that future payments would be made into their
bank. There had been instances where customers were telephoned and
asked for their bank account details. Several members expressed concern
about instances in their areas where the Benefits Agency was deliberately
making it difficult for claimants to collect their benefits from their local post
office. These included books being sent to wrong offices and the customer
being told that they would have to go to that post office instead of their local
one, and claimants being told that if they had two books they had to draw
from them at different offices.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY reported that progress on this matter was slow.
DTI Ministers and the Secretary of State were writing to Alistair Darling
demanding that something be put out to those people who had received
these letters. The Federation had not received as much evidence of these
instances as it would have liked and without it little could be achieved. THE
GENERAL SECRETARY had seen a proof of a letter that POCL intended to
send to all subpostmasters, but they did not have the names and addresses
of the beneficiaries who received the original letter. He considered that POCL
should produce posters to put into post offices, and if they would not do it
then perhaps the Federation would.
MR WILLSHAW proposed that the Federation do its own poster, and this was
seconded. However, MR PEBERDY suggested that before accepting this
proposal, the General Secretary be given another opportunity to get The
Business to produce one, because there would be a cost. Stephen Byers
had undertaken to speak to the Minister to get letters to everyone and it was
possible they may include posters. If not, perhaps The Post Office would do
them. THE GENERAL SECRETARY would try to find out the current position
on this, either by the end of the meeting, or failing that by the end of the
week. The proposal was amended, that The General Secretary would be
given two weeks to get a favourable response, if this was not achieved then
the Federation would do their own. THE GENERAL SECRETARY
considered that the Federation could not afford to wait two weeks and
undertook to try to get a response later that day.
9d) Renegotiated Automated Payment Schemes PC NW 06 02
lt was AGREED that this item would be moved to PC SP.
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9e) Cash Handling and Distribution PC NW 09 03
The aim had been to establish consultative arrangements following
reorganisation, and to update the new people they had in office, as stated in
the circulated letter dated 16 December. MR PEBERDY referred to the list
accompanying that letter showing the four different territories and the contacts
within them and he requested that the Executive Officers responsible for
these areas start to make contact. In the meantime Mr Davis was trying to
source a meeting with lan Larrington.
Papers had been circulated concerning the defunding arrangements. This
had not gone as well as hoped. It had been a nation wide problem and the
Negotiating Committee would be taking part in a review meeting and
MR PEBERDY asked Committee members to let Mr Davis have any relevant
information to take to that meeting.
Discrepancies PBNE’s had been published in the Counter News under Week C
36.
Irrelevant
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Irrelevant —
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING - JANUARY 2000 PAGE 17
Irrelevant
nternal Logisti iew — ; Closure Programme
MR PEBERDY referred to the circulated letter of 21st December incorporating
a flow chart from Dermot Martin, in which he had asked for comments on Re-
orders, Modular Packs, Order Card Errors and Transactional Stock
Catalogue. Mr Martin was less than happy with Swindon Store performance
and this was an attempt by him to remove all potential blame from
subpostmasters so that blame could fairly and squarely sit with Parcel Force
World Wide at Swindon. MR PEBERDY objected to the reference to markets
and offences because if Royal Mail made more processing errors then
subpostmasters would also. There was to be a meeting about this and
MR PEBERDY asked Council for their views.
MRS REEVES reported that in her area the inability to get further supplies of
certain forms was preventing subpostmasters from transacting their business.
Articles in the Counter News had referred to DNS forms being photocopied
because they were not obtainable from Swindon. Subpostmasters were
going from office to office because supplies were not coming in. This had
changed in the past couple of weeks but some offices were now receiving
multiple deliveries, because they had ordered more than once when stocks
didn’t arrive. One subpostmaster received his order five times!
MR WILLSHAW's area was experiencing similar problems. Some
subpostmasters were being told an item was not available, whilst others were
being sent up to four boxes.
MR DARVILL reported that London was due to get six monthly stores at the
beginning of December and they had just arrived that week in his office.
Driving Licence application forms were unavailable as were air Mail labels. If
the subpostmaster put in an emergency requisition for something that was
included in the fortnightly supply, they did not receive it.
THE CHAIRMAN requested that details of these instances be sent to
Shoreham. She described it as a diabolical carry on.
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Mr Martin had advised in his letter of 29th December that stock which could
not be picked was held on the computer at PWL until stock was available, and
it was then picked. MR PEBERDY called on Council for a decision as to
whether it should be policy not to re-order, or that stock not sent would have
to be re-ordered,
It was PROPOSED and AGREED that all out of stock orders be put on back
order and fulfilled when the item became instock.
10. Security
10a) POCL/NFSP Meetings PC NW 1101
The minutes of the Security meeting of 30" November had been circulated.
Robberies had increased and burglaries decreased. The regional security
meetings were to continue and now that the territories had been set it was
necessary to get the names of the representative of each. These were as
follows:
North Mrs Kendall
East Mr Jones
West Mr Peberdy
When the new Head of Security passed this information to his regions it was
hoped that there would be a basis on which to start security meetings again.
The General Secretary had conveyed the Federation’s fears when Tony
Marsh was appointed because he had come from an IB background and it
was known that IB did not like unions. Concern was expressed that Mr Marsh
may not act in the Federation's best interests but MR PEBERDY assured
Council that if it appeared that Tony Marsh was not co-operating then he take
these concerns to Mr Marsh’s boss.
MR PEBERDY reported that Mike Wood had been invited to Annual
Conference, as requested by the Executive Council at the previous meeting.
He was waiting to see how things moved forward and look for forums to
produce something better. Can people in territories make decisions and
territories deploy it?
MR JONES reported that his region had held a meeting with the people they
used to deal with and told them that their new contact was Phil Gerrish. This
response had been very disturbing. They said that they would talk to any
branch necessary and hold regular meetings, the first of which was set up. It
was not necessarily a bad thing that Mr Marsh was from an IB branch as all
employees were to be multi skilled in the future with training in all parts of the
job. It was considered that they were trying to bring security people into the
mainstream and Phil Gerrish was having to report sales volumes. They
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING ~ JANUARY 2000 PAGE 19
seemed to be trying to break away from the IB, and MR JONES was
concemed about it.
MR BRADBROOK had no faith in Mr Gerrish. He had invited him to his office
and by opening the hatch he had been able to let himself in. He admitted that
the doors were not adequate but they were working to a budget. This lead to
the subpostmaster being held responsible and negligent if an attack occurred
because the doors were not adequate. MR BRADBROOK had attended four
meetings with HORNS and Area Managers and told them that the doors must
be outward opening.
Referring to survey’s in the South East, MR BRADBROOK reported that each
time something went wrong the subpostmaster could be asked to complete a
survey and one had stated that ‘ over and above the screen’ should have
been completed in 1978. When an attack took place where access was
gained by going over the top of the screen the subpostmaster was held
responsible.
MISS LINDON questioned what was meant by the reference to negotiations
with the Federation early in the New Year in relation to the Cashco trial. THE
GENERAL SECRETARY advised that the Federation was waiting for the
result of this trial as he believed that Cashco would say that it had been a
success, but it was important to get input from subpostmasters and it could
then be negotiated. MISS LINDON was concerned that subpostmasters were
not being given the opportunity to express their views on the trial because the
questionnaire only gave them a‘ yes’ or no’ option, thus making it loaded in
Cashco’s favour.
MR MORGAN JONES reported that from the outset this was done within the
region, and had then been put out to the national team. Executive Officers in
the region were not aware how far the Federation had got with The Post
Office or Cashco and he had not been aware that a questionnaire had been
circulated and he asked why the Federation had not seen a copy of it.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY advised that the deal was done with Irene
Bethell and the Federation had received no feedback from Cashco or
subpostmasters. He had imagined that when the trial was over they would
advise the results. He suggested asking subpostmasters through Executive
Council Officers what their input was. He had not been involved in any
discussions, any correspondence or any feedback from other sources.
MR BRADBROOK reported serious problems with bogus Rem men. They
arrived shortly before a collection was due and were correctly dressed. The
subpostmaster was then held negligent and required to repay the loss.
The Post Office had put an article in the Counter News concerning bogus
Rem men. THE GENERAL SECRETARY referred to the charge of
negligence on a subpostmaster giving money over and he had not been
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aware that there was more than one such case in London. He knew of a
case in a branch office and acknowledged that if a branch office could be
tricked then so could a subpostmaster. This was something that needed to
be addressed, but he would need the correspondence to do it.
10b) Regional Security Forums PC NW 11 01
Nothing to report.
10c) Equipment PC NW 1102
Nothing to report
10d) Trauma Care Programme PC NW 11 03
Nothing to report
10e) Bravery Awards
Correspondence had been circulated and the matter would be raised at a
meeting with Alan Barrie and Dave Miller as it was considered that proper
recognition should be given at the Bravery Ceremony.
11. Quality
Guide to Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) PC QY 01 ‘
MR PEBERDY reported that work was well and truly underway.
Questionnaires had been given out but these did not raise any queries.
12. Subpostmasters’ Contract
12a) Standards at Post Offices PC SC 03
MR PEBERDY advised that Conditions of Appointment had been circulated
under cross reference and should be in current files together with the Losses
and Gains Policy.
This was the result of a lot of work done by the Negotiating Committee going
back to 1997 and it seemed that progress was being made. He considered
that the Federation now had a golden opportunity, now that the Business
made policy in the Centre and deployed it to the Regions. MR PEBERDY
advised that the Negotiating Committee would like for both the Losses and
Gains Policy and Conditions of Appointment to be addressed at a further
meeting in order to get some alterations and then for them to be sent out to
the territories in order that they had to abide by them. The Post Office was
now beginning to look at this in a manner that was correct, reasonable and
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING - JANUARY 2000 PAGE 21
affordable and the Negotiating Committee felt that they were ‘ within an ace’
of getting the documentation they wanted.
12b) Introductory Payment PC SC 04
Nothing to report
42c) Loss of Office (Compensation Agreement) PC SC 12
Nothing to report
12d) Paypoint PC SC 21 01
Nothing to report
12e) Counter Losses and Gains Policy PC SC 27
MR PEBERDY referred to section 2.1.4. to 2.1.6. Sub Rem 5/88 had stated
that percentage fines were not appropriate as they did not take into account
the amount of damage on the person. It was also considered totally unfair
that a percentage of the loss was required to be repaid, 25% of gross
remuneration could be charged in some circumstances. Subpostmasters did
not set out to deliberately lose money, sometimes it was the fault of the
security system.
Referring to Conditions of Appointment MR BUTLIN felt that these had not
changed very much in the last two years and errors were causing the greatest
problems and he considered that partially culpable being set at 33% was
much too high. He also felt that the 25% taken from total income was wrong.
Any office on line received a substitution payment for it and that should not be
included. It was wrong to include both the Assisted Office Payment and the
Product Payment. The right of appeal did not seem to exist, only the
opportunity to discuss with the HORN how long a subpostmaster had to pay
any charges. He considered that there was still a lot of work to do.
MR WILLSHAW advised that he had made comment to the percentages on
his orange paper. He expressed concern that RNMs were not qualified to
assess whether a subpostmaster was negligent. However, THE GENERAL
SECRETARY advised that this would not be done by the RNMs but by the
security team (2.1.1.). He was concerned to hear that.
In response to MR BRADBOOK’S query as to whether MSPO were included
in this item, THE GENERAL SECRETARY replied that as the Federation was
able to represent MSPO members in individual cases, and negligence and
robberies were individuation cases, they were included.
MRS REEVES referred to item 2, Preventative Measures by POCL. This
could only be enforced if The Post Office made sure that they issued arrear
notices within the 8 week period. At the moment this wasn’t being achieved.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY explained that because the contract actually
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required that these were made good immediately, it went back to 1982 when
green giros could not be processed within 8 weeks and it was argued that it
was unreasonable to make good a loss whilst the accounts were not checked.
He believed that if they tried to extend those 8 weeks they may be opening a
Pandora’s Box. Eight weeks should be sufficient, some subpostmasters took
advantage of it and others made good their losses when they should.
MR PEBERDY referred to the PC NW 01 outputs of 22" November. The
Negotiating Committee was desperate to get 25% as net issue, not gross.
They were trying to get the appeal to be done, at least by a HORN outside
the area.
Conditions of Appointment
THE COMMITTEE discussed the apparent insistence that subpostmasters
wear name badges. THE GENERAL SECRETARY clarified the matter by
advising that the Federation had accepted that name badges should be worn
or displayed. If subpostmasters were worried about security they could use a
pseudonym. If The Post Office was deviating from that agreement, then the
matter would be addressed. It was not in. the contract that subpostmasters
must wear a name badge, but it had been agreed that they should.
Referring to the Subpostmasters’ contract, MR BRADBROOK stated that if a
post office fitted into a certain module it would become a franchise office and
a number of MSPOSs were falling into this category. He was concerned how
much money these subpostmasters were having to pay. He had represented
a subpostmaster who was threatened with termination because the bank
would not lend money and he therefore could not complete his refit within the
six month period. However, MR BRADBROOK had been told that he had no
right to be there because it was a franchise office. He said that he was there
as ‘ as friend’ and he telephoned John Main, who also said that he had no
right to be there. The result of the meeting was that the time scale for the refit
was moved from January to July, therefore there was flexibility.
MISS LINDON reported two occasions when she had known that RNMs had
lied in order to try to achieve their aims.
* That POPOS was compulsory and subpostmasters did get paid for it.
¢ Telephone calls checking on stock holdings: MISS LINDON knew this was
not true because if that was the case then the Federation would have
negotiated telephone calls for this.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY requested Council to read the documentation
of the Terms of Appointment very carefully and, in order for the Negotiating
Committee to make progress, relay concerns and instances such as those
reported above to the Committee. He asked Council that the Negotiating
Committee be left to dot the ‘I's and cross the ‘ T’s.
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MISS LINDON congratulated the Negotiating Committee on the work they
had done.
MR PEBERDY sought the agreement of Council that the Negotiation
Committee go back to firm up a little more and get the document agreed,
This was AGREED.
13. Subpostmasters’ Pay PC SP
13a) Pay Review PC SP
MR PEBERDY reported that a meeting on Pay 1999 had been held with Post
Office negotiators on 6th January 2000. The initial offer, made at that
meeting was as follows:
4. The first element was to pay 10/12 of 2% based on each office's total pay
for the year 1998/1999. This being the equivalent of April through to
January. It would also take into account elements that would not normally
be subject to any other pay increase, such as The Lottery. It meant that a
lump sum could be calculated for each office to be paid in February.
2. The second element was to make an increase in the Assigned Office
Payment (AOP) for all offices, including community offices, minimum scale
offices and restricted payment offices. This would be effective from
1st February 2000 and would be worth 2.1%. Also to increase what was
colloquially known as 'the balances' from 1st February 2000 to 2.1%.
3, In terms of product payments the proposal remained unchanged from
those already given in previous discussions, These could then be
discussed again at the next pay review, starting on 1st April 2000.
4. Referring to The Minimum Wage it was the Post Office's view that
subpostmasters were not subject to the minimum wage legislation, but it
was recognised that it affected subpostmasters in that it had an impact on
the costs on their businesses. A subpostmaster who did not perform a
personal service had to employ staff to run the office and the staff would
have to be paid the minimum wage. It was therefore proposed that there
be an annual review of the income that an office was receiving from the
Post Office network Unit for the provision of service for offices without
those contractual scale payments. That review would conclude the total
income the office received from the Post Office Pay Unit including an
allowance and reimbursement in the annual period between 1st April 1999
and 31st March 2000. This total would be divided total by the number of
hours that the post office was contractually required to be open over the
same period. If the figure from that calculation was less than £3.60 the
Post Office would make a payment to bring the figure up to that amount.
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This would apply to all offices where subpostmasters did not give personal
service. This would apply to all offices in that category, whether or not
they had a private business. Modified or franchise offices however would
not meet this criteria.
5. The proposal on Mailwork would also be the 10/12 detailed in element 1,
covering the same period. This would take them up to ist February 2000
and therefore address the arrears position. Discussions would then
continue on Mailwork at separate meetings.
In summing up Mr Granville mentioned two important factors.
1. The proposals created a position whereby payment could be made
quickly.
2. In acknowledging the concerns of traffic decline in certain offices, I
because the proposal was based on 1998/1999 it protected it against
any decline in the current year. He re-iterated that this proposal
applied to items such as lottery and bill payments.
The Committee had rejected this as being no better than what had already
been put on the table, and the Post Office negotiators had left the meeting
whilst The Committee discussed the way forward.
The Post Office representatives re-joined the meeting and Mr Peberdy had
advised Mr Granville that the offer that had been put before them was far
short of the Federation’s claim and also short of the discussions that had
been held between the two parties. In acknowledging Mr Granville’s opening
words to ‘ get on as quickly as possible’ and bearing in mind the fact that the
end of another year was approaching, Mr Peberdy responded to the offer in
the following manner: I
1, Payment of 10/12 of 2.75 on total P.60 for 1998/1999 for all
subpostmasters
2. Increase Assigned Office Payment from 1/2/2000 by a lump sum of 2.75%
on 1998/1999 P60.
Increase all other allowance by 2.75% from 1/4/1999.
3. No increase in Transaction Related Payments until 1/4/00
4. Not to be included in the offer - as this was not generic to pay discussions
and no comments would be made regarding it.
5. Mailwork in (1). Separate negotiations from 1/2/00.
Mr Peberdy further advised that as the above fell short of the Federation’s
pay claim they requested that the following requirements be considered:
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING - JANUARY 2000 PAGE 25
(a) Representation for MSPOs
(b) Abolition of the Introductory Fee
(c) 0800 telephone numbers for Hemel Hempstead and Salford
(d) Horizon Migration Payment made for inconvenience being
experienced, and for this to be ongoing.
(e) Overtime paid for Bank Holidays, Training (Excessive
Attendance)
(f) POPOS
(g) A realistic commitment to share information on product payment
for meaningful negotiations in the future.
(h) Review of the Holiday and Sickness Allowances.
Mr Granville questioned the Committee’s refusal to accept the Minimum
Wage as part of the proposal. Mr Peberdy replied that because of the way it
was phrased, it was something that the Committee could only note. He
invited Mr Granville to write to the Committee on the matter, when it would be
addressed separately.
Nothing had been agreed by the close of the meeting, and Mr Peberdy had
re-iterated to Mr Granville that they had hoped to take a recommendation to
the Executive Council that weekend. Mr Granville undertook to speak with
The General Secretary that evening with a response to the Federation’s
proposals. However, as reported earlier, an acceptable offer was still being
negotiated by telephone during lunch and evening breaks of this Executive
Council Meeting. Eventually The Negotiating Committee received faxed
copies of letters of offer ‘without prejudice’ which they felt they could
recommend to the Executive Council. Copies of this correspondence was
circulated, and the proposals discussed.
It was unanimously AGREED that the following offer be accepted for
recommendation to the Executive Council.
« A lump sum payment to be made to each Subpostmaster equivalent to
2.3% of all the remuneration for their office paid through payroll in the
twelve month period between April 1998 and March 1999, which covers the
whole period between 1 April 1999 and 31 March 2000 and is effectively
the pay rise for members for this year. This element is particularly
important as it means Subpostmasters will receive an increase based on
all elements of their pay - including National Lottery and all other products
previously paid through the intermittent allowance system.
This will be paid to Subpostmasters holding appointments at the relevant
office during the period 1 April 1999 to 31 January 2000. The payment will
be on a pro-rata basis in accordance with the length of time they have held
or will hold that appointment within the period between 1 April 1999 and 31
March 2000.
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It should be noted that this element does not apply to the payments made
by POCL in respect of holiday substitution and sickness substitution
allowance i.e. payments made in reimbursement of expenses.
e In addition to this we have negotiated the increases noted below which are
effective from 1 April 2000 and which will therefore form the relevant base
for future pay discussions in 2000 based on the normal April review date.
« Increases of 2.2% to the Assigned Office Payments of all sub post offices
to be effective from 1 April 2000.
¢ Increases of 2.2% to Community, Restricted and Minimum Scale offices to
be effective from 1 April 2000.
e Increases of 2.2% to all standard allowances, as published in the annual
supplement to the Gazette, with effect from 1 April 2000.
e Increases in Product Payments as given in the list at Annex 1 to this BSC
with effect from 1 April 2000.
¢ The introduction of an annual review applicable to all scale payment,
Community, Restricted and minimum scale offices to be automatically {
undertaken by Post Office Network Unit on the following basis. This review t
will calculate the total remuneration paid to each office (including all
allowances and re-imbursements) in the annual period between 1 April
4999 and 31 March 2000 and divide that sum by the total number of hours
that the Post Office contractually required the office to be open over the
same period. If the figure received per hour of office opening is less than
£3.60, then the Post Office will make a top up payment to the office such
as to bring the figure up to £3.60. The first operation of this review will be
undertaken by Post Office Network Unit in the first quarter of the
2000/2001 financial year, and will be based on the relevant data from
between 1 April 1999 and 31 March 2000.
This element addressed one of the key requirements of the Federation's
original claim, that being the impact of the national minimum wage on
Subpostmasters’ pay, In agreeing to this element, the Federation would
not be accepting the definition of pay used by PONU. However, this
element would benefit Subpostmasters and the Federation intended to
continue working to progress this issue.
« Mailwork Payments were currently being separately reviewed by Post
Office Network Unit and the NFSP. As a full year’s effect of mailwork pay
in 1998/9 would be included in the calculation of 2.3% lump sum outlined
above, those discussions would continue but the effective date of their
outcome would now be 14 April 2000.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING - JANUARY 2000 PAGE 27
« Post Office Network Unit was prepared to extend the current ‘ one for one’
transfer arrangements (whereby a Subpostmaster who resigns one office
to take over another office within a stipulated time frame has the
appointment scale waived) to MSPO transfers. Therefore, if a SPSO
Subpostmaster took over an existing MSPO office on a ‘ one to one’ basis
the introductory payment equivalent to three months remuneration would
be waived. The same arrangement would apply for an MSPO
Subpostmaster taking over an MSPO on a ‘one for one’ basis. If an
MSPO postmaster resigned his/her MSPO to take over an SPSO on a
‘one for one’ basis, the requirement for that Subpostmaster to go on the
appointment scale would be waived.
All the above arrangements would come into effect for transfers taking
place after 1 February 2000.
« With effect from 1 February 2000 the threshold at which the appointment
scale wass applied to new appointees at scale payment offices would be
increased by almost 10% from £12,731 to £14,000. The elements of pay
to which the appointment scale was applied would remain unchanged.
PONU would confirm with the NFSP the changes to arrangements where an
incoming agent ‘ bought out’ an existing Subpostmaster and, with Post Office
Network agreement, re-established the office on alternative premises nearby.
In these cases there was a direct commercial link between the incoming and
outgoing Subpostmasters and no case for application of the Discretionary
Fund. Hitherto in such cases the incoming Subpostmaster would have been
placed on the appointment scale and required to pay an additional
Introductory Payment. In future the introductory payment element of these
arrangements would not be required.
Identifying cost of running an office
MR PEBERDY referred to the circulation of the Hartley McMasters Survey to
be returned by 4" February. He asked Executive Officers, when attending
meetings, to implore their members to return it as it was in their best interests.
He also advised them to instruct members not to forget to take into account
every square inch that is used, not just the serving area. Examples given
were staff toilets, storage space in other rooms, filing cabinets. A Branch
Secretary Circular would be despatched from Shoreham that week on the
subject.
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13b) Pay Claim 1999 PC SP/1999
Sub Post office Viability Project
THE COMMITTEE. referred to the draft Terms of Reference which the
Negotiating committee had agreed the previous day. The majority of the work
was covered by bullet points 1 and 2. THE GENERAL SECRETARY
considered that this subject was probably the most important on the
Executive Council’s agenda as it was the future network of sub post offices,
The Federation should have a say in the matter, with the DTI looking at the
access criteria, and the PIU looking at the viability of post offices, including
the size and shape of the network. There had been indications from the PIU
that they were hopefully leaning towards subsidies. It was thought they may
be considering putting a menu of choices to the Secretary of State that
retention of post offices would require funding of some nature.
The Viability Project would be coming together at the same time as everything
else and it was therefore very important that the Federation used this
opportunity to get its message across. The Negotiating Committee not only
needed Council’s agreement to the Terms of Reference, it was also important
to identify an optimum solution. Within the project group consideration would
be given to the options open to the Federation and frequent meetings would
take place. THE GENERAL SECRETARY considered that Council's agenda
was ' The Rural Network’ and he felt that if the Government wanted to retain
it they should pay for it. It should not be supported by cross subsidy of large
offices for small offices. That was the way of the past, but not for the future.
If that was the rural network, then the urban needed to be looked at
separately, analytically and brutally. It was necessary to see how the
Federation wanted the network to look like in 2010. THE GENERAL
SECRETARY advised that when discussing the Mrs Bain case under A/12 it
may be necessary to have different contracts within the network and different
methods of payment.
THE GENERAL SECRETARY felt that this was the most important position
that the Federation had been in for many many years, as it was in a position
to influence the future. He urged Council to be informed by the past but not
to let it govern them.
MR WALSH requested that copies of the survey be circulated to the
Executive Council.
The review group would consist of:
David Miller and Alan Barrie, facilitated by Mike Granville and overseen by
John Roberts. The Federation representatives would be The National
President, Chairman of the Negotiating Committee and The General
Secretary.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEETING - JANUARY 2000 PAGE 29
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‘I
THE GENERAL SECRETARY assured Council that they would be kept fully I
informed of progress. I
MR PEBERDY sought the Executive Council's agreement that the
Negotiating Committee’s decision that these Ternis of Reference fitted the bill
for what they were about to undertake.
This was moved, seconded and AGREED
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SECISION
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IBCASION
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FUTURE DATES & VENUES OF EC MEETINGS. L
The March 2000 meeting will be held from Sunday 19th to Wednesday 22nd
March at the Westmead Hotel, Birmingham. No further dates were available
for future meetings beyond March.
o~
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B) FINANCE AND TREASURER’S REPORT
(I) Treasurer's Report. FI AC 02
A Treasurer's report had been prepared and circulated in ROY
EDMONDSON'S absence with a brief summary given by the GENERAL
SECRETARY. At the moment the Federation is living beyond its means.
There are now fewer members producing inadequate funds to meet a
significant amount of ongoing extra costs. The balance in hand will be
circulated shortly, but was not available at the present time.
In response to a question from the floor it was confirmed that now the pay
increase had been settled, Federation subscriptions would be increased by
the same amount, 2.3%.
(ii) Branch & Regional Accounts Year Ending 31.12.99.
No report.
(iii) Interim Financial Review.
The Review had been circulated. Any questions should be made in writing to
PHILIP BLOOR who will respond.
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(iv) Conference Grant to Delegates. i
Rates had previously been increased from £125 to £135 and it was usually
increased every three years. However, it was unanimously decided to retain
the current level of £135.00.
(v) I Vacancy for National Treasurer.
Now that ROY EDMONDSON has stepped down as National Treasurer the
vacancy created needs to be filled.) MR BURFORD proposed and MR
MORGAN-JONES seconded that MR JANNETTA be elected Treasurer.
Voting in favour was unanimous. MR JANNETTA responded that he was
deeply moved by the support he had received and would do his utmost to
deliver what is required,
The GENERAL SECRETARY suggested a letter be written to MR ACTION
EDMONDSON expressing the Executive Council’s sincere gratitude and q
appreciation for his hard work during a particularly difficult time.
MR EDMONDSON'S resignation as Treasurer had also created a vacancy for
a lay member of the General Purposes Committee. There were four
Executive Committee members eligible for this position. These were, MR
MORGAN-JONES, MR BUTLIN, MRS REEVES and MR McLEAN. Following
a vote it was decided that Mr Butlin should join the General Purposes
Committee as a lay member.
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AM6 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
File Management System.
MR PEBERDY expressed his concern about the Federation's File
Management System. He proposed that each Executive Officer should
receive a new copy of the current Correspondence Management Listings
which should include the amendments made during the course of this
meeting, i.e. new reference for “Horizon’, and “Membership” having been
moved from A6 to AS. This proposal was seconded and unanimously agreed
by Executive Officers.
There being no further business to discuss, MR BURFORD rose to thank
MRS KENDALL for guiding the meeting through three very difficult and taxing
days. He mentioned that not only had MRS KENDALL directed those days
with patience, fortitude and a good sense of humour, she had also busily
spent the previous weeks travelling from the North East all over the country
by train and must be exhausted. ’
Thanks were extended to MRS KENDALL by all Executive Officers and
Secretariat attending and the meeting was closed with MRS KENDALL
extending her how thanks and wishing all those present a speedy and safe
journey home.
LESLEY HARRIS / MARIAN JONES
Fepruary 2000
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