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Appendix to ACC 52/04 issued 17 December 2004
BRIEF SUMMARY OF CERTAIN SECTIONS OF THE SUBPOSTMASTERS
CONTRACT
(For use as a guide only)
Contract
Subpostmasters are agents of Post Office Ltd (formerly Post Office Counters
Ltd) contracted to provide premises and Post Office services.
Subpostmasters are, consequently, NOT employees of Post Office Ltd. The
contract is a personal one, held by a single individual, even where for
example, several people jointly own the business, or where a business runs a
large number of Post Office® branches.
Accommodation standards
Under the terms of the Subpostmasters Contract subpostmasters are
required to provide and maintain accommodation to standards specified by
Post Office Ltd. A subpostmaster is not obliged to attend the branch
personally, but is required, whether there or not, to accept full responsibility
for the proper and efficient running of the Post Office® branch.
Assistants
The subpostmaster must provide, at his own expense, any assistance which
he may need to carry out the work in the Post Office® branch. Assistants are
employees of the subpostmaster. The subpostmaster will be held liable for
any failure on the part of the assistants to provide a proper standard of
service to the public or to apply proper Post Office® procedures.
Post Office® Cash and Stock
The subpostmaster, on taking up the appointment, is supplied with suitable
Post Office® stock. The subpostmaster is permitted to hold Post Office Ltd
cash, which should be sufficient to meet payments at the branch after due
allowance has been made for unexpected receipts and in accordance with
official accounting and security instructions. The subpostmaster is expressly
forbidden to make use of the balance due to Post Office Ltd for any purpose
other than the requirements of the Post Office® service; and he must on no
account apply to his own private use, for however short a period, any portion
of Post Office® cash entrusted to him, nor make use of the Post Office® cash
for payment of wages to his assistants. Misuse of Post Office® cash may
lead to termination of the Subpostmasters Contract.
Losses
The subpostmaster is responsible for all losses caused through his own
negligence, carelessness or error, and also for all losses caused by his
assistants. Deficiencies due to such losses must be made good without
delay.
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Standards
Post Office Ltd, through its network of Post Office® branches aims to give
customers and clients a high quality service. Subpostmasters must therefore
give top priority to serving customers quickly and efficiently, and to fulfilling
the documentation requirements of clients with accuracy and professionalism.
Subpostmasters should ensure that the time for which customers wait to be
served is kept to a minimum, and make the necessary adjustments to the
staffing pattern to achieve this objective
Cash Account
Subpostmasters are required to produce an office balance every Wednesday
after close of business (unless otherwise directed by Post Office Ltd).
Remuneration
Remuneration is paid from the first day of appointment until the last day of
service, irrespective of traffic periods. It covers any attendance during normal
hours of business including, in respect of a mailwork office, attendance in the
sorting office both prior to and after the close of post office®
Remuneration will normally be made up of a sales related tier payment and
either an assigned office payment, or a core tier payment depending on the
contract type.
Sales Tier Payment
This is a variable volume related payment, normally paid monthly, based in
the main on traffic transacted at the office two months prior to the month of
payment.
Assigned Office payment (AOP)
Smaller Post Office® branches will have an assigned office payment which is
set in respect of each individual office. Once established at an annual rate it
will be paid in 12 equal instalments over a period of a year. For all offices
this payment will remain at this level and will not be subject to traffic
fluctuations.
Core Tier Payment
Commercial Post Office® branches will have a Core Tier payment. The Core
Tier will automatically be recalculated on the 1April each year, commencing
on 1 April 2005, based on sales performance in the previous year.
Small Full Time Post Office ® branches with annual remuneration
payments below £14,000 per annum
Most Post Office® branches that fall into this category have a set annual
revision date. To calculate remuneration for these offices for the next twelve
months, the last four full quarters transactions for traditional Post Office®
business such as pensions and allowances are multiplied by a value per
transaction and totalled. This becomes the Annual Sales Tier Payment that is
added to the assigned office payment to give total remuneration for the year.
This figure will be paid monthly in 12 equal parts until the next annual
revision is due. In addition there are a small number of products that are
reviewed monthly, based in the main on transactions completed two months
prior to the month of payment. Subpostmasters at annually revised branches
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can choose to transfer from annual to monthly calculations for payment of
remuneration.
Small Full Time Post Office® branches with annual remuneration
payments above £14,000 per annum
For small Post Office® branches with an annual remuneration above
£14,000, the transactions undertaken during a cash account period (there are
12 in a year) are multiplied by the value of such transactions to form a Sales
Tier Payment which is paid monthly, based in the main on transactions
completed two months prior to the month of payment. For example traffic
transacted in January will be paid in the March payroll period. Sales Tier
Payments will fluctuate depending on whether it is a four or five-week cash
accounting period. The annual value of the assigned office payment is
divided by twelve and added to the monthly sales tier payment due.
Commercial Branches
A new remuneration system for our larger Commercial Post Office® Branches
came into effect on 1st October 2004. Remuneration payments at these
branches will be made up of a ‘Core’ tier that has been derived through in
depth analysis of the typical fixed costs associated in running a post office®
branch, and a ‘Sales’ tier, which contains product payment rates (Sales Tier
Payments) for individual products. The Core Tier will automatically be
recalculated on the 1April each year commencing on 1 April 2005, based on
sales performance in the previous year. The Sales Tier Payment will be
based on transactions completed in the main two months prior to the month of
payment. For example traffic transacted in January will be paid in the March
payroll period. Sales Tier Payments will fluctuate depending on whether it is a
four or five-week cash accounting period.
Mailwork branches
Asubpostmaster at a mailwork branch is expected to supervise the sorting
room along with the delivery staff, dealing with day-to-day problems as they
arise. The subpostmaster is also required to provide suitable accommodation
for the delivery staff and to ensure that the accommodation at all times
complies with relevant legislation including the Health and Safety at Work
Act.
Premises
Asubpostmaster must provide at his own expense any reasonable office
accommodation and fittings that Post Office Ltd may require of him, for
carrying out the work of the office.
These fittings comprise, among other things, a counter, counter drawers and
tills for the official stock of stamps, postal orders, etc., a cupboard or drawers
for forms, a safe or other approved container (where not provided) affording
good resistance to attack by thieves, a suitable locker to enable secure
posting items to be held in safe custody, a clock and certain small stores.
Certain fittings may also be purchased on application to Post Office Ltd. More
details and approximate prices can be obtained at interview.
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Restrictions
The subpostmaster must not undertake in a private capacity any business or
allow anyone else to undertake on the premises in which the branch is
situated, business of a kind that Post Office Ltd requires him to provide for
itself or its clients.
Disability Discrimination Act 1995
As part of the subpostmaster’s obligation to provide accommodation as
required by Post Office Ltd the subpostmaster has to provide premises which
comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. In addition the subpostmaster is
obliged to ensure that the manner in which the Post Office services are
provided to the public comply with the DDA.
[Note: The above paragraphs summarise certain sections only of the
Subpostmaster’s Contract. They are by no means a comprehensive
description of the Contract, and should not be used in place of a thorough
review of that Contract. A subpostmaster may not rely upon the points made
in this summary, as they are for reference purposes only.]
The Post Office and the Post Office symbol are registered trade marks of Post Office Ltd in the UK and
other countries.
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