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Message
From: Jane Davies
Sent: 14/01/2023 13:49:25
To: Henry Staunton
Subject: Re: CONFIDENTIAL - Follow up actions
Hi Henry,
Unfortunately not, as he was tied up. He’s requested an 11.30 call on Monday, so you’ll have spoken to him by
then. I plan to send him a message briefly outlining the concerns (Ill send a separate copy to you) so he’s able
to put some thought into a sensible solution prior to your call at 10am. Hope OK.
Best,
Jane
Jane Davies
Group Chief People Officer
People Team
Finsbury Dials, 20 Finsbury Street
London, EC2Y 9AQ
postoffice.co.uk
From: Henry Staunton! _
Sent: Saturday, J
To: Jane Da
Subject: Re: CONFIDENTIAL - Follow up actions
Jane ,
Were you able to speak to Tom yesterday ?
Henry
Sent from Outlook for iOS
From: Jane Davies;
Sent: Friday, Janua
To: Henry Staunton: GRO
Subject: RE: CONFIDENTIAL - Follow up actions
Hi Henry,
Thanks for your email.
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There is clearly going to be a huge gap in what was proposed in December versus the new proposal from Tom. I am
worried that Nick is feeling incredibly despondent, so we will need to manage this Nick is also asking me to meet strong
external candidates for a COO position (which we will be talking to you about in due course) and I feel that this
preparation for his succession which is healthy, but a worry too.
I do not know whether you have gone back to Tom, but I would like to have a further discussion with him, to request
that he tailors the retention payment to a shorter period ie the next 12 months (to get us through the Inquiry).
I anticipate that if we cannot achieve anything on his retention, he will be wanting to have a formal discussion with us
regarding his future.
Are you happy I that pick up with Tom, or would you want to do this?
Kind regards,
Jane
From: Henry Staunton:
Subject: Re: CONFIDENTIAL - Follow up actions
Jane,
Well done on the Retention bonus ( with hopefully not too many performance conditions ) and the inflationary increase
in salary . The revised package is much less than that set out in my letter but is an improvement in the SoS's starting
position .
Many thanks ,
Henry
Sent from Outlook for iOS
From: Jane Davies r
: Thursday, Janu:
i Lisa Harrington
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL - Follow up actions
Morning Henry,
Hope all is well.
Following our call yesterday, and as agreed, I caught up with Tom and Roshana from UKGI, to formalise/progress the
discussions from your meeting with the SoS. I have documented the outcome of that call, where we agreed 3 follow up
actions. I have cc’d in all parties to ensure we are all aligned;
1. Bonus approval; We all understand there was no clear decision on the approval of the CEO bonus from the
SoS. As such, Roshana from UKGI will be writing a final note to the Shareholder to attempt to bring this matter
to aconclusion asap. The note will make a case for the SoS to approve the bonus, and will be seeking formal
confirmation of that approval in writing. UKGI have consistently approved the bonus and are keen to move on,
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as we are. They also recognise the latter delay is also upholding the submission of our Annual Report &
Accounts to Companies House.
2. Retention incentive; Tom highlighted the point in your letter, which says that if we cannot gain the SoS approval
on the package, that we do have the ability go back with another option. Tom is therefore using this
opportunity, to propose a ‘Retention Payment’ which will be at the ‘smaller’ end of the scale and will be subject
to certain parameters which Tom will define. Tom has said he will seek my input if needed, but UKGI will own
and formulate this, rather than go through the usual RemCo approval process. Tom confirmed that Carl from
BEIS is supportive also. We discussed the idea of the parameters / criteria having a stretch element on these,
but Tom was not inclined to include any further asks in this regard. My preference would be to minimise the
caveats/additional parameters, to ensure it ‘feels’ like a pure retention plan. We did not discuss timeline, but
my suggestion is that this should cover a 2 year retention to April 2025, to enable us to have stability through
the Public Inquiry, and for us to have completed the technology transformation programme, both of which are
pivotal to the future of POL.
3. Pay Review: we also discussed a pay increase for the CEO. We agreed that (as part of the above bonus
approval note which Roshana is preparing) that we would add in a comment that the CEO will receive a % pay
increase, at POL normal pay increase date (1*t April 2023) in line with the average % pay increase across POL.
@Cooper, Tom - UKGI @Arasaratnam, Roshana - UKGI if I have missed anything , then please feel free to input/amend
any of the points above. Thank you for your support here. It would also be helpful to understand the timescales for the
above actions.
I hope the above is satisfactory.
Kind regards,
Jane
Jane Davies
Group Chief People Officer
People Team
Finsbury Dials, 20 Finsbury Street
London, EC2Y 9AQ
postoffice.co.uk