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in this issue...
Operations Manual
Bill Payments:
Automated Payments booklet 2
Financial Services
Government Services:
DVLA - Motor Vehicle Licences
Telephone Services
Travel Services: Bureau de Change
on-demand and pre-order
Miscellaneous
Automated Remittances
Cash Handling and Distribution
mes - Travel and Ti
Office Equipment.
Operational Publications
article page
Anglian Water bar-coded bills ~ processing problems 1 2
Guaranteed Equity Bond and Growth Bond ~
new dedicated envelope 2 2
MVL Saving Stamps ~ withdrawal 3 3
HomePhone ~ new cut down application form 4 4
Combating fraud ~ distribution of publications 5 5
Inward stock remittances ~ process correctly 6 6
Commemorative Coins ~ new counter and
accounting procedures 7 6
New £5 Commemorative Coin ~ Battle of Trafalgar 8 7
Remitting coin to Cash Centres ~ change to procedure 9 8
East Staffordshire travel scheme 2005 10 8
London Boroughs Freedom Passes ~ change to delivery ce) 9
Overnight Cash Holding Form (P4105) ~ no longer required 12 10
Telford & Wrekin Quarterly passes 13 10
Mobile Induction Loop ~ distribution 14 1
Operations Manual ~ distribution of revised
Operations Manual booklets 15 11
Operations Manual plus week 47 ‘MoneyGram’ ~ correction 16 12
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Anglian Water bar-coded bills ~ processing problems
Anglian Water has advised us that there is a problem with some of their bar-coded bill payment books.
If you are presented with an Anglian Water bar-coded bill that does not scan successfully after three atternpts:
® you must process the bill via transcash.
Do not charge a transcash fee for this transaction.
Please note: Horizon will not accept thes:
the bar-code.
nar-coded bills Input manually as
are too Many num!
Guaranteed Equity Bond and Growth Bond ~
new dedicated envelope
From Monday 28 February 2005, branches must use a dedicated GEB & Growth Bond Despatch Envelope (PL605) to send
Guaranteed Equity Bond (GEB) and Growth Bond application forms for processing.
Post Office
PO Box 819
BELFAST
BT3 9YE
Distribution
From Friday 18 February 2005, all branches will receive an initial distribution of the envelopes
[ Stock code / tte description
p0ssstsi—“<~*~‘“‘“‘“‘;~;*;*:SCC CEB & Growth Bond despatch envelope
® If you have not received your GEB & Growth Bond Despatch Envelopes (PL605) by Monday 28 February 2005, contact
iselecting option 6 for RML Swindon and quote the stock code above.
Please note: Continue to use your existing despatch procedures until you receive your new envelopes.
New despatch procedure
Each completed application form must be despatched
daily with the customer's payment to meet the last priority
services collection from your branch.
Place all the Guaranteed Equity Bond and Growth Bond
application forms with their associated cheques.
attached, in a GEB & Growth Bond Despatch Envelope
(PL605). You may place more than one application in
each envelope.
Please remember: These e pes must only be used
for the despatch of GEB and Growth Bond application
forrns and associated cheq
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® seal the envelope
© date-stamp the box on the front of the envelope.
When you hand the envelope to the collecting officer:
® make an entry ‘BO! ENV’ on the Confirming Your
Collection Form (P4555)
enter the number of PL605 envelopes you are
despatching under this heading.
Please remember: These envelopes must not be
y mail, You must ensure that itis
@ collecting officer.
MVL Saving Stamps ~ withdrawal
On Thursday 31 March 2005, £5 MVL Saving Stamps will be withdrawn from sale.
Customers may still redeem thern to buy their car tax at vehicle licence issuing Post Office branches until 31 March 2006.
After this, any MVL saving stamps that a customer still holds, can only be used at a DVLA Local Office or exchanged at DVLA.
Withdrawal
® At close of business on Thursday 31 March 2005, remove
all £5 MVL Saving Stamps (MVLSS £5) from sale at your
branch.
The ‘sell’ icon for this product will be removed on Friday
1 April 2005.
The ability to ‘rem out’ these items will be withdrawn on
Friday 27 May 2005.
When you are required to return your stock to the NSSC
Hemel Hempstead, you will receive a pre-printed Returns
Form (RS1) listing all the iterns you are required to return.
Return your stock to the NSSC Hemel Hempstead, as
listed on your pre-printed Returns Form (RS1), on your
next scheduled collection, in your normal returns pouch.
You must return your stock to the NSSC, Hemel
Hernpstead when requested. Your branch will be liable
for any MVL saving stamps not returned before the ‘rem
out’ facility is removed.
Post Office saving stamps
Customers may now use Post Office saving stamps to save
for their car tax.
If a customer uses both MVL saving stamps and Post Office
saving stamps to buy their car tax, these must be attached
to their own cards.
Both types of stamps should not be attached to the same
card.
MVL saving stamps should be attached to a Vehicle
Licence Saving Stamps Card (V218).
Post Office saving stamps should be attached to a
Post Office saving stamps collector card (P6386).
© if the stamps have already been mixed by a customer,
please refer to the Operations Manual plus week 18 for
full details on redeeming a mixture of different saving
stamps.
Please note: Post Office saving starmps cannot be used
at a DVLA Local Office.
© if the customer has any additi
ther to contact the DVLA on}
advise
continued from page 3
Customer leaflets
DVLA
From Friday 18 February 2005, you will receive the
following DVLA leaflet (as appropriate) from RML Swindon.
I Item code Description
_INFI74 Car Tax Saving Stamps
‘ INF174NI NI version Car Tax Saving Stamps.
INFI74W. Welsh version Car tax Saving Stamps
® If you have not received your leaflets by Thursday
24 February 2005, contact the NBSC o}
selecting option 6 for RML Swindon and quote the
relevant itern code.
Post Office saving stamps
Additional supplies of Post Office Saving Stamp
Registration leaflets (PL316A5) and Start up packs (P6385)
will be distributed to ail branches from RML Swindon from
Friday 18 February 2005.
The amount of leaflets and packs you receive will be based
upon whether your branch issues Motor Vehicle licence
discs and sales of MVL saving starnps.
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© If you have not received your leaflets and packs by
Thursday 24 February 2005, contact the NBSC on
f GRO___2selecting option 6 for RML Swindon and
quote the relevant item code.
Counter procedure
© From the Tuesday 1 March 2005, please hand the
following items to customers who wish to purchase or
redeem MVL saving stamps:
- a DVLA Car Tax saving stamps leaflet
a Post Office saving stamp Registration leaflet
(PL316A5) and special insert about saving for
Christmas (CM393DL)
- a Post Office saving starnp Start up pack (P6385) (if
they are currently not a Post Office saving stamp.
customer) or
- a Post Office saving stamps Collector card (P6386) (if
they are a current Post Office saving stamp customer).
See Operations Manual plus week 18 for full details of
redeeming a mixture of different saving stamps.
HomePhone ~ new cut down application form
In response to feedback from Post Office branches, a cut down version of the Post Office HomePhone application form
has been produced to speed up the counter transaction.
Please note: 7
intended for use at busy periods only.
vis Is Not a replacernent for the Post Office HomePhone full application form (PLAQ9AS), it is
When the cut down version of the application form (PL619A5) is used, the customer is signing up to the Post Office
HomePhone service in the same way as using the full application (PL409A5). However, this application assumes the
customer wants to receive a quarterly bill and that they will not want to pay by any other method (such as Direct Debit or
a Budget Payment Card).
Please note: This form must
not be used for further information requests.
@ if the customer wants to change their payment method, advise them to either:
- fillin the full application form (PL409A5) or,
~ to call the HomePhone Customer Care Line of
5 YEE 68
fonce they have received their welcome pack).
Distribution
Between Friday 18 February and Friday 25 February 2005,
an initial distribution will be made to ail Post Office
branches by RML Swindon.
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Counter procedure
® Check the customer has completed the application form
in full
Please remember: If the customer has been at their
Mitemcode Description current address for less than three years they must
t complete the con! number and preferred contact
I PL619A5 I Post Office HomePhone A5 cut down date section
© If you donot receive your application forms by Monday ° Enter your branch (FAD) code in the ‘OFFICIAL USE ONLY’
28 February 2005, contact the NBSC on 0845 601 1022 section.
selecting option 6 for RML Swindon and claim non receipt.
Despatch
Further supplies
® Despatch all completed PL619A5 applications daily with
all other Post Office HomePhone applications that you
have accepted during the day, in the HomePhone
Business Reply Envelope with the green corner (PL341).
® From Monday 28 February 2005, order further supplies
as required, from RML Swindon, on your normal
scheduled order, using the itern code above.
Please note: The A5 cut down leaflet (PL619A5) is
supplementary to the full application (PL409) you
must stock both iterns until further notice.
Combating fraud ~ distribution of publications
As the level of fraudulent activity involving Euros and US Dollars remains a significant issue for the business, two different
publications have been prepared to help you to combat fraud and provide you with details on how to identify fraudulent
Euro and US Dollar notes.
All branches
With Operational Focus, in this week's pouch, you will receive an Operations Manual plus entitled ‘Bureau de Change
Anti-counterfeiting Security features on Euros and US Dollars’. This details the most prominent security features on Euro
and US Dollar notes, and has been designed as a compact document that will be easy for you to refer to when you are
carrying out Bureau de Change transactions at the counter.
On-demand and Euro Dollar branches
You will also receive a Training Workbook entitled ‘Fighting Fraud’ which is currently being distributed by RML Swindon.
The purpose of this workbook is to ensure you have achieved a satisfactory level of expertise to be able to prevent fraud.
* If you have not received your copy by Friday 18 February 2005, contact the NBSC on { selecting option 6
for RML Swindon.
Further details, including a letter expiaining the process to be followed, will be sent directly to you.
Please remember. You must pass the ‘final test evaluation’ in the back of the workbook by Thursday 37 March 2005.
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Inward stock remittances ~ process correctly
Since the Automated Remittances procedures were
introduced in August 2004, there has been an increase in
the number of branches incorrectly processing the stock
they receive.
Up to 2,000 stock related errors are produced each week,
mainly because branches are not entering their
remittances on the same day as they receive them.
If you do not enter your remittance on the day you receive
it, it may be show up ina different Cash Account week to
the despatch date recorded by the NSSC Hemel
Hempstead. This will then generate errors.
Each individual error has to be investigated. This requires
extra resource which impacts on our aim to reduce
administration costs.
Branch performance regarding this problem will be
monitored over the coming months and branches with
unacceptable error levels will be contacted.
© Always enter your stock remittance onto the Horizon
System as soon as possible on the day of receipt.
© Refer to the Interim Operations Manual, Autornated
Remittances booklet, for full details on inward
remittance procedures.
Commemorative Coins ~ new counter and
accounting procedures
With immediate effect, the Accounting and Counter
procedures for Commemorative Coins will change.
The first coin affected by these changes will be new £5
Battle of Trafalgar coin. See article 8 in this week's
Operational Focus for details.
New distribution procedure
Commemorative Coins will now be sent to you from your
Cash Centre as a cash item.
They will no longer be distributed as a stock item from
NSSC, Hemel Hempstead.
Distribution will be to selected branches only, based on
previous sales.
New accounting procedures
Remitting in
® When you receive your Commemorative Coins treat
them as a normal ‘Remittance In’ cash item.
® Refer to the Interim Operations Manual, Automated
Remittances booklet, Subsection 2, page 3 for details.
5 YEE 68
Declaring your Overmight Cash on Hand (ONCH)
® In order to balance at the end of the day and at the end
of the Cash Account week, you must declare your
Commemorative Coins on hand.
A £5 Commemorative Coin item has been added to the
ONCH picklist on Horizon for this purpose.
New counter procedure
Commemorative coins are no longer treated as a stock itern,
therefore they will not show up on your stock on hand screen.
Commernorative coins cannot be sold through the Horizon
system as they are now treated as a cash item.
As the ‘sale’ of Commemorative coins will not show as a
value item on Horizon, it is important to deal with
Commemorative coin transactions separately to other
transactions wherever possible.
in the case of multiple transactions being conducted by a
customer, if the Horizon sequence below is followed,
Horizon will only show the volume and not the value of the
coin, therefore you may be at risk of not taking the
payment for the coin. Failure to do so will result in a loss to
your branch when balancing.
There is no limit to the number of coins a customer may
purchase.
© If acustomer requests a receipt, issue them with a
miscellaneous receipt (P1091L), recording the value and
date-stamping the receipt.
Entering the transaction onto Horizon
Following the sequence below, will allow for the capture of
‘sales’ of Commemorative Coins as volume but not value.
Itis essential that volumes of ‘sales are entered either at
the time of the transaction or at the end of the Cash
Account week. Failure to do so, will affect remuneration for
this product.
® From the Desktop select:
Transactions (F1)
- Serve Customer (F1)
~ Other Products (F13)
- More Products (F16)
© enter the total number of coins ‘sold’
© select the appropriate £5 coin icon (for the Battle of
Trafalgar coin, £5 Traf Coin - F13)
® touch the Finish icon (Enter) and settle the transaction.
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Methods of payment
Commemorative coins can be purchased by cash, cheque
supported by a Cheque Guarantee Card (up to the
guarantee limit of the card) or Post Office saving stamps.
Please remember: If Commemorative coins are
yu cheque, you must punch the frequency
@ back of the cheque book
See the Operations Manual, Methods of Payment booklet,
para 12.3, page 61, for details.
Treatment of circulated coins
Commemorative coins must not be given to customers in
payment, or in change, unless the customer has asked to
purchase the coins.
Although these £5 coins are intended as commemorative
pieces, they are legal tender and you must accept them if
offered in payment for goods or services.
If you accept any of these coins in payment for goods or
services:
© do not re-issue them to customers
® declare/hold them on Horizon as ‘Unusable Coin’
® remit ther to your Cash Centre using the ‘Unusable
Coins’ (F4) icon .
New £5 Commemorative Coin ~ Battle of Trafalgar
On Monday 7 March 2005, a new £5 Commemorative Coin, ‘Battle of Trafalgar’ will be officially available for sale at
selected Post Office branches.
Distribution
From Monday 21 February 2005, these Commemorative
Coins will be sent to selected Post Office branches from
their Cash Centres.
If you have a local demand for this product and have not
received any of these Commemorative Coins by Friday
4 March 2005, please contact your local Cash Centre
helpline to order them.
The minimum order is 25 coins per bag (£125).
Commemorative Coins may be ordered in multiples of
25 per bag.
Accounting and Counter procedures
© Refer to the ‘Commemorative Coins ~ new counter and
accounting procedures’ article (article 7) in this week's
Operational Focus for details.
Period of sale
® Keep these coins on sale until Wednesday 7 September
2005,
Do not return these coins until instructed to do so.
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Remitting coin to Cash Centres ~ change to procedure
Fromm Monday 21 February 2005, you must no longer put the Horizon produced coin advice note into an envelope before
handing it, with the coin, to the Cash In Transit collection officer.
This will make it easier for the collection officer to check that the coin collected matches both the coin advice note and
the Horizon Collection Receipt.
Change to procedure
® Follow the coin remittance procedure as normal.
® Scan the P6097 label on the coin advice note and produce the Horizon Collection Receipt. Do not put the coin advice in
an envelope.
® Give it to the collection officer along with the coin and Horizon Collection Receipt (HCR) who will check it before signing
the HCR.
tray
_ a
East Staffordshire travel scheme 2005
From Monday 7 March 2005, selected Post Office branches will start to issue concessionary travel passes on behalf of East
Staffordshire Borough Council.
Distribution
You will shortly receive the following items directly from the NSSC Hemei Hempstead.
® if you do not receive all of the items by Monday 21 February 2005, please contact the NSSC Hemel Hempstead on
Passes
I Scheme ID Product code Stock code Product description I Price
325 07 ESTAF CONOS Concessionary Pass I £12.50
Other stock iterns
roduct description I Stock code
Weekiy Summary form / LSI
ast Staffordshire Weekly Summary I LS268
Pass prices
The price of a pass is £12.50 from Monday 7 March 2005 until Saturday 1 October 2005 and £6.25 from Monday
3 October 2005 until Tuesday 28 February 2006.
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Counter procedure
There are no changes to the issuing procedure for this year’s scheme.
Please remember. Only renewal app!
Staffordshire Council can be issued
directed to East Staffordshire Cour
aged 60 and over and who are permanent residence of East
a travel pass at a Post Office branch. All other applicants must be
Accounting
© Complete the Weekly Summary Forms (LS1 and LS268), in duplicate, as normal and despatch it to Chesterfield weekly
in the brown pouch, along with any spoilt stock.
For inforrnation on how to enter the transaction onto Horizon, please see the Horizon System User Guide, Booklet E,
Transactions~Serve Customer-Part three, Section 17, page 58.
London Boroughs Freedom Passes ~ change to delivery
Currently, the NSSC Hemel Hempstead send all London Boroughs Freedom Passes and associated items to branches by
first class post.
From Monday 21 February 2005, London Boroughs Freedom Passes will be sent to branches on their scheduled orders
from the NSSC Hemel Hempstead.
I Scheme ID Product code Stock code Product description
I 2275 1 7 —_ ELDO6LONB —_ Elderly Persons Freedom Pass
I 2275 2 DISO6BLONB: Disabled Persons Freedom Pass
l
All other associated items (listed below) will continue to be sent to branches, from the NSSC Hemel Hempstead, by first
class post.
Product description
Elderly Photo card
f
/
L
t
I
I
I
t
_ Disabled Photo card (selected branches)
}
I Wallets
I Application forms
t
I Freedom Pass information leaflet
I Migration flyer
I Branch record of issues and spoilt passes
I Weekly dispatch label
I Weekly Accounting form
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Overnight Cash Holding Form (P4105) ~ no longer
required
Approximately 400 branches a week stili continue to complete and despatch the weekly Overnight Cash Holdings Form
(P4105) to their local Inventory Team.
You no longer need to complete and despatch this form.
® However, you must continue to complete a valid and accurate cash declaration (by denomination) on the Horizon
system each day, before your cut off time.
Refer to the pull out in Operational Focus, week 50 for details.
Telford & Wrekin Quarterly passes
The fourth quarter of the Telford and Wrekin quarterly passes expire on Thursday 31 March 2005. The passes will be
withdrawn from sale at the close of business on Wednesday 2 March 2005.
Quarter one passes (April - June 2005) will be available for sale from Thursday 3 March 2005.
Distribution
You will shortly receive the following items directly from the NSSC Heme! Hempstead.
eceive all of these items by Thursday 17 February 2005, please contact the NSSC Hemel Hempstead on
Product code Stock code Product description I Price
I 2194 32 QTR1 TFDOS Quarter 1 Bus Card £23.00 i
Weekly Summary Form (LS1)
© Complete the Weekly Summary form (LS1) at the close of business on Wednesday 2 March 2005, showing details of
the withdrawn quarter four passes.
® Despatch the top copies of the LS1 to Chesterfield as normal.
Returning stock to the NSSC
You will shortly receive the pre-printed Returns form (RS1) from the NSSC, Heme! Hempstead, listing the stock that you
will need to return.
Retu all appropriate stock to the NSSC, Heme! Hempstead on your next scheduled return after Wednesday 2 March 2005.
Piease refer to the Interim Operations Manual, Automated Remittances booklet, subsection 5, page 17, for details on
remitting out stock.
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Mobile Induction Loop ~ distribution
From Friday 4 March 2005, all directly managed branches will receive a Mobile Induction Loop (MISC777) with full
instructions, from RML Swindon.
© If you do not receive your Mobile Induction Loop by Tuesday 15 March 2005, contact the NBSC ont
selecting option 6 for RML Swindon.
Use the Mobile Induction Loop if:
- your fixed induction loop develops a fault
- you need to speak to anyone with a hearing aid away from the fixed induction loop at your branch.
Please note: The mobile induction loop must be kept on charge when not in use, full instructions are included
with the kit
Operations Manual ~ distribution of revised Operations
Manual booklets
From Monday 21 February 2005, revised versions of the When you receive the new mail services booklets:
following Operations Manuals will be distributed to all Post emove the previous versions, Inland mail services booklet
Office branches and to other Operations Manual users: (COMB 6/3) and international mail services booklet
~ Inland mail services booklet (COMB 6/4) (COMB 7/4) from the Volume 2 binder (Postal Services)
~ International mail services booklet (COMB 7/5) ® insert the new booklets (dated January 2005) into the
- Stores Ordering bookiet (COMB 47/4). same places according to the order on the binder cover
© destroy the previous versions (dated July 2003) in
If you do not receive the new booklets by Tuesday 1 March accordance with local instructions for paper disposal.
2005, please contact the NBSC on 0845 601 1022 selecting
option 6 for RML Swindon.
Stores Ordering booklet
Mails booklets When you receive the new Stores Ordering booklet:
® remove the previous version, Stores Ordering booklet
(COMB 47/3) from the Volume 5 binder (Post Office
Procedures and Services)
Both mails booklets have been updated to include full
smart post instructions. Additionally, the Inland mail
services booklet has been updated to include the Postcode
and Address Finder instructions for Standard Parcels. ® insert the new booklet (dated February 2005) into the
same places according to the order on the binder cover
ried mails t
t services’ is currently i
be distributed separately, at a later date.
© destroy the previous versions (dated May 2003) in
accordance with local instructions for paper disposal.
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Operations Manual plus week 47 ‘MoneyGram’ ~
correction
Operations Manual Plus week 47 ‘MoneyGram International Money Transfer’, shows the item code for the MoneyGram.
Worldwide Agent Directory as MDG1, this is incorrect.
The correct item code is MGD1
® Please amend your copy of the Operations Manual Plus week 47.
Please note that this table is unlikely to contain details of every action you will need to take during this week.
You will need to continue to read all relevant Operational Focus articles, and plan your actions in the same way
you normally plan for changes.
[ Product Change Actions Date Article ref
I Preston Bus Ltd Scherne ends at all Post Office Withdraw items from Wednesday I Week 47,
I
I travel scheme branches sale at close of business I 23 February I article 16
I First Edinburgh New tickets Put on sale Thursday Week 47,
I travel scheme 24 February I article 14
I Coin Cover New version - The Written Word Put on sale Thursday Week 39,
I
I 24 February I article 6
_ Jane Eyre - Stamps, Presentation Packs, Miniature I Put on sale Thursday Week 39,
I special issue sheets and Prestige Stamp Books 24 February I article 7
I Jane Eyre - First Day Envelopes Withdraw from saleat = Thursday Week 39,
I special issue close of business 24 February I article 7
Chip and PIN Extra icon added Use new icon Thursday Week 47,
24 February I article 5
© Post Office Ltd 2005. ll rights reserved.
‘The Post Office and the Post Office symmbot are registered tradernarks of Post Office Ltd in the UK anid other counties.
Produced by Operational Publications team, Network Support Services, 80-86 Oid Street, LONDON ECIV SN
Printed by Romec Print Solutions on recycled paper
Operational Focus must be retained for one year from the publication date