05/2011
Agency Changes Communiqué (ACC)
A
a
To: Contract Advisors CC: Distribution List
HRSC
From: Paul Williams Date: 20 May 2011
Restrictions Advisor
Subject: Company Operated Post Office® branches; dealing with resignation of and
applications from existing Operators.
1. Introduction and Purpose
From mid-2006 centrally managed multiples holding “nominee” subpostmaster
appointments have transited to Company Operated Post Office Contracts. The business
as usual resignation and application arrangement for these centrally managed multiples
that moved to Company Operated status was described in ACC 02/2007. However,
recent organisational change and the growth in the number of non-centrally managed
partners who have moved to Company Operated Post Office Contracts, mean that it is
time to update and revise this instruction.
This ACC which is mandatory replaces ACC 02/2007 and sets out the approach and
process for dealing with resignations by, and applications from, all existing Company
Operated Contracts Operators. It contains suitable standard draft documentation and
provides guidance to the HRSC and interviewing managers on the actions required to
deploy the new approaches.
Please note that this ACC does not provide criteria for dealing with an initial application
from an organisation seeking Company Operated Operator status, this will be dealt with
separately in a stand-alone ACC.
Although the processes in this ACC are paper based, it is envisaged that an on line
application process will be introduced in due course.
2. Background
The key differences between the old nominee arrangements made under the
Subpostmasters Contracts [including Modified and Community branches] and the new
Company Operated Contract are:
e They are company-to-company i.e. between two companies Post Office Ltd and a
named company.
e No individual identified as a “nominee” is involved
Last Communiqué: 03/2011 Agents References
04/2011 Branch Opening Hours Policy
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e The remuneration is subject to VAT rather than Income Tax and National
Insurance contributions.
Since 2006 the SPSO / MSPO & Community nominee appointments of all nationally
managed multiples and some regional multiples have been migrated to Company
Operated Post Office contracts. We have also made a small number of appointments to
Company Operated status where a new company that would have qualified for Nominee
status has entered the Post Office market.
Once a company has moved to the new contract, all further appointments [other than
Franchise branches, Mains branches and Post Office Local sites] will be made to the
Company Operated Contract. It is for this reason that the new business as usual
processes described in this ACC have been developed. For the sake of clarity,
application at Franchise, Main or Post Office Local sites should follow the business as
usual processes for these operating models.
Table below includes Doc Ref 1 which all lists the companies that hold Company
Operated Post Office Contracts at the date this ACC is published.
3. Termination of Company Operated Contracts by Operators
As is the case with subpostmaster appointments, partners holding Company Operated
contracts [known as Operators] are required to give three months’ notice to Post Office
Ltd if they wish to terminate a contract. It is expected that Operators will submit notice of
termination to the Contracts Support Team when an applicant has been identified.
How the resultant vacancy is dealt with will depend upon whether the prospective
successor already holds Company Operated contracts in their own right.
3.1 Responding to Notice of Termination
If the outgoing Operator informs us that they propose selling their premises and private
business to an organisation that already holds Company to Company Contracts in its own
right, the appointment process outlined in section 4 below should then be followed. For
the sake of clarity section 4 also applies when an existing Company Operated Operator is
purchasing a branch from an outgoing agent who is a subpostmaster.
If the prospective purchaser holds standard or nominee subpostmaster appointments, or
does not hold any Post Office® branch contracts at all, the vacancy should be advertised
as normal. That is, it will be treated as a standard sub Post Office vacancy and be
advertised via IRIS. Prospective applicants will need to be advised that they should log
onto www.postoffice.co.uk and click on the “Subpostmasters” link to both find out more
about the vacancy and submit an application and a full business plan.
In such cases, any queries about the proposed transfer dates by the outgoing Operator
should be dealt with in the normal manner.
3.2 Vacancy Reports
On receipt of a notice of termination from an Operator, the CST should acknowledge this
using the letter embedded below. The CST will be responsible for ensuring that a
Vacancy Report is completed and provided to the HRSC in the normal manner, whether
or not the nominated applicant already holds Company Operated appointments.
4. Business as Usual Appointment Process.
The process map for the new approach, together with the necessary standard draft
letters, are embedded in the table below.
Although the process is, hopefully self explanatory, there are some important points to
note.
¢ Electronic applications, to Agent Recruitment Support using the form will be
accepted.
e Contract Advisors are responsible for conducting interviews and making
appointment decisions.
e When an application is received from one of the smaller Operators that is NOT
account managed, and which has NOT been credit checked in the preceding 12
months, a fresh credit worthiness check should be obtained by the HRSC. At the
time of writing such checks can be obtained via chris.nicholass
who will need the Company Registration details to arrange this.
e The Operator must return the signed contract and supporting documents to the
HRSC before the date of appointment.
e Although the process has been streamlined it does not mean or imply that any
appointment is a foregone conclusion, Post Office Ltd retains the right to advertise
any branch, or choose not to appoint an Operator to it, if it is in the best interests
of our business.
e Transfer packs — whilst the Field Support Team will complete the transfer,
because of the distinctive nature of the Company Operated Contract a simplified
transfer pack will be required comprising:
© P242 Final Cash Account Form (x1)
o P344 Transfer Report (x1)
o Appendix A&B List of items loaned (x2)
o P301 Non-Disclosure Statement (x2)
4.1 Entering Operator’s details onto HRSAP
When dealing with any organisation that could have several separate appointments, it is
important to ensure that all the details entered into SAP are done so in a manner which is
absolutely consistent across every appointment. The Agency Pay and Contracts team
has, therefore, provided a spreadsheet containing the company names, registration
details etc. for all current Company Operated Post Office® branch contract holders.
When the HRSC is making subsequent appointments for one of these operators, the
details provided in the application should be checked against the spreadsheet and in the
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event of any small disparities e.g. “Bloggs Limited” v “ Bloggs Ltd “ or a VAT number
presented as L ithe spreadsheet data / format must be
used.
However, in the event than an application is received that contains differences that
suggest some aspect of the Operator has actually changed — such as a new registered
office address or registered number, then clarification should be sought from the Contract
Policy Team (Paul Inwood/Stewart Barclay/Steve Utting).
5. Responsibilities
Although the attached process maps illustrate the main responsibilities, I felt it might be of
help to add a few words of additional clarification below:
5.1 HRSC
The new process has many parallels with the old “nominee” application process although,
it is hoped, the lines of responsibility within Post Office Ltd are a little clearer. However,
as there are no named individuals acting as nominees for the Operators, the vetting /
security checks issues associated with an individual nominee will no longer arise.
It is, nevertheless, important to remember that the vetting standards will apply to all
assistants [including any officer in charge/ manager] employed by the Operator in the
branch. For this reason it is vital that the completed P356 is obtained at the same time as
the signed contract document, so that a check of registered assistants can be completed
as soon as is practicable. In the event that a prospective assistant fails the security
checks, the Human Resource Service Centre should inform the Operator and appropriate
Contract Advisor as normal.
When preparing the contract document, the HRSC should insert the agreed transfer date
as the Commencement Date of the agreement [Part 2 of the Schedule]. The Agency
Recruitment team must also monitor the case and if the signed contract and supporting
documents have not been returned within 7 days they must advise the Contract Advisor
so that they can raise the matter with the Operator before the Commencement Date.
Section 5.2.2 provides further detail on this.
5.2 Contract Advisors
The shift of responsibility for all Company Operated interviews and appointment decisions
to Contract Advisors ends the previous division between those Operators that are
centrally managed, and those that are not.
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Although the new process recognises that in many locations appointment of an existing
Company Operated contract holder is likely to be the right the choice for the business, it does
not mean that this will always be the case. For example, the operational proposals put forward
by an Operator might not meet the current needs of the business or branch, or it may be the
Operator may be unwilling to agree Conditions of Appointment at a branch, or Post Office Ltd
may have identified better locations or possible applicants. Post Office Ltd will determine how
it wishes to advertise the branch in line with current policies.
For these reasons it is important to ensure that we do not give Operators or outgoing
subpostmasters the impression that the Company Operated Contract appointment process is
merely a “rubber stamp” on any agreements they may have already made between
themselves.
5.2.1 Interview Practicalities
Post Office Ltd’s default position is to conduct face to face interviews when considering
applications for appointments as an agent. Not only do such events allow the business to
assess the personal qualities and experience of the applicants, but they also provide an
opportunity to review the business plan / financial assessment and for the collection of
evidence to support the security checks required of all subpostmasters.
However, when dealing with an application from an existing Operator, we have already
decided that this company is a good fit with Post Office Ltd brand and, if the application is
successful it will be the employees working in the branch that have to be security checked
rather than the company. It is also the case that our larger Operators are account
managed and that there is regular dialogue between the business and the Operator about
our shared goals and objectives.
The Contract Advisor will also need to review the financial assessment [credit worthiness
check] and satisfy themselves at the interview on any issues requiring clarification from
the applicant.
Taking the above into account, the Contract Advisor can choose to conduct the
Operational Assessment by telephone if:
The applicant is a nationally account managed multiple OR
The applicant has at least 10 other branches AND
Has been appointed at another Post Office branch within the last 12 months AND
There are no known operational problems with the branches they operate.
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If the branch being considered has an Area Sales Manager, they should be made aware of the
application and offered the opportunity to take part in the Operational Assessment discussion,
although they do have the option to decline this offer. If the branch has mailwork then the
Royal Mail Manager identified at the vacancy report stage should be offered the chance
to attend the interview.
5.2.2 Operator Fails to Meet Timescales
Finally, with the move to company-to-company relationships it is more important than ever
that we ensure the signed agreements are obtained before the Operator takes up the
appointment.
For this reason the HRSC has been instructed to inform Contract Advisors if the
documents have not been returned to the within 7 Days. If you are contacted by the
HRSC in such circumstances, you must raise the matter with your Operator contact
urgently to ensure that the signed contract documents are submitted promptly and before
the Commencement Date. If the Operator seems unwilling, or unable, to return the
signed documentation within the timescale, then the Contract Advisor should inform them
that the transfer will have to be postponed until the signed documents are returned.
In the event that a Contract Advisor accepted the reasons for the delay in providing the
signed documents given by the incoming Operator and wanted the transfer to go ahead
before they arrived at the HRSC, the Contract Advisor would need to obtain agreement
from the appropriate National Contract Manager, before allowing the transfer to proceed.
In the event a transfer is postponed because of non-receipt of a signed contract, the
Contract Advisor should ensure that the Human Resource Service Centre, Contract
Admin Team and, when appropriate, Multiples Account Manager, Area Sales Manager
and Royal Mail Manager are made aware of the delay.
5.2.3 Unsolicited Applications
In the rare event of an Operator submitting an application before the agent’s resignation
has been received, the Contract Advisor will have an important and, potentially, delicate
role to play. The Contract Advisor will need to contact the incumbent agent to enquire
whether or not they are negotiating about a proposed sale with the Company Operated
contract holder. As already mentioned, Post Office Ltd retains sole discretion as to
granting contracts to run our branches. So, when talking to incumbent subpostmasters
about their intentions it is important to make sure we:
e Do not give the impression we are forcing or persuading them to resign and/or
accept the offer from the Operator. We are merely trying to establish what the
subpostmaster’s intentions are.
© Do not imply that the appointment of the Company-to-Company Operator is a mere
formality. It is the case that we may choose to advertise the vacancy to seek
additional candidates and / or reject the Operator's application.
6. After an Operator has been appointed
As with other contract types, Company Operated appointments can be varied by mutual
agreement and most likely areas are changes to opening hours or occasionally location.
In such circumstances the Contract Advisor should assess requests for changes in line
with the relevant current processes and policy. If agreement can be given to the
proposed change then a revised contract document [ref no 8] should be completed and
despatched by the HRSC.
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7. Conclusion and contact
The processes described in this ACC, are intended to make the BAU management of
Company Operated Post Office Contract resignation and appointments reasonably
straightforward and easy for all parties involved to understand. Should you require any
further advice or clarification about this issue, please do not hesitate to contact Stewart
Barclay.
I would like to thank Glenn Chester, Sharon Bohanna, Steve Northey and John Breeden
amongst others for their valuable input and feedback in developing this process.
Paul Williams
Table 1; Current Company Operated Contract Holders:
Doc Ref I List of Company Operated Operators May 2011 a
1
C:\Documents and
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Table 2: Documents used in Company Operated Resignation Process
Ref Document Name Document
R1 Process Map; Resignation EE
C:\Documents and
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R2 Resignation Pack
C:\Documents and
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R3
Acknowledgement of
resignation
C:\Documents and
Settings\Paul.F. Wilia
Table 3. Documents used in Company Operated Appointment Process.
Ref Document Name Document
Al Process Map: Recruitment mlm
C:\Documents and
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A2 Application Form im)
C:\Documents and
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A3 Cover Letter for Application wa)
C:\Documents and
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A4 Notification to Incumbent i)
Agent
C:\Documents and
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AS Operational Assessment
pack
mi)
C:\Documents and
Settings\Paul.F. Wilia
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AG
Transfer Notification
my)
C:\Documents and
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AT
C2C Contract
C:\Documents and
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A8&
Offer Covering letter
C:\Documents and
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AQ
Rejection Letter for applicant
C:\Documents and
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A10
Rejection Letter for outgoing
Subpostmaster.
C:\Documents and
Settings\Paul. F. Willia
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