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Scotland Regional
Forres Post Office
Forres
Morayshire
TV36 1QQ
Minutes of meeting of Scotland Regional Council
Held Grampian Hotel, Perth on 2" October 2015
Vice President, In the absents of Regional President Ewan Shaw, Jamil Ahmed
opened the meeting by welcoming all especially The National President Mr Jim Nott
and Laura Hobbins from first rate delegates,
Apologies: Ewan Shaw Harvey Morton, Stuart Burford, Mike Burford, Roy
Wetherup, Paul Munch, Brenden Keany Rhona Young.
Minutes Of previous meeting; Approved Gordon Gunn and seconded Sunil Sood
Parcel Force; Laura Hobbins, retail development manager for Scotland and Northern
Ireland gave a talk on the Rewards for you, A promotion being carried out in store
where our customers can receive a 15% discount on Parcel Force products excluding
global value, economy and consignments. There are three promotion codes at the
moment with on-line ROC Temporary card TMP and permanent card MEM. Laura
explained the procedures through the horizon screen and talk with customers when
posting parcels.
Last posting dates for Christmas was passed round along with a Parcel Force pack
“Send it Right” containing all materials needed for a successful Parcel Force
experience within our branches.
National President;_Jim Nott began by thanking the Region for the invitation to talk
with the Scotland Region.
Letters; There were two letters which had come out lately, One on NT and the other
on Contract changes with regards to National Insurance. As it was of interest to a few
delegates Jim asked those who would like the information to contact the Regional
Secretary who would pass on copies of said BSE.
Membership; It seems that there may be an issue with the opting out of Members
within the MOU. POL want all to opt in and are looking for a 50% uptake in the
members holding a Post Office. There is not a clear answer to what is a fundamental
piece of the MOU but talks are on going and Solicitors are involved.
Postage; with the changes to the labels now it a concern that we may become an
acceptance for pre paid postage more than more and not putting labels on packets. The
Federation is looking for a better price for accepting pre paid items and this will get
more as Royal Mail and POL look at these options.
Royal Mail; still manage 85% of the mails market with all others 15%. Amazon have
ended there relationship with collect plus and returned to Post Office for pick ups and
collections with the main reason being the integrity of the product when left in store.
Council
Travel Insurance; The Post Office has bought a travel company, the first acquisition
made by the Post Office. There are grave concerns since the change of provider that
the customer journey is very lengthy and difficult to process. Lets hope that this
changes.
Universal cctv; this is a company who supply a television screen for advertising. This
company has the agreement of the Post office and the Federation to talk with Post
Masters. They are not taking over from the existing provider but an option.
Call centre; There will be a return of the “Customer Waiting” option when calling the
centre.
ATM; Any Contract over 8 years have now been extended for another 4 years .
Internal atm with less than 1000 transactions per month, the Post Office have said no
payment for transactions. Offices that have over 1000 transactions the Post Office wish
to pay TRP only. This has not been agreed on both accounts.
Post Office have 11% of the bill payment market. They have just agreed a contract
with “Smart Meters”.
With Banks closures around the country posters are available for many and federation
are talking with regards to increase transaction payment for banking products.
An update on the mobile phone pilot is very disappointing and there is still no apatite
to roll out the current account pilot either.
There is to be a change in the way cash and stock is dealt with in store. The box and
fob are passed through to the staff member who empties the filles it passing it back
through to the Cashco. Training is to be given before starting but dates not known.
Executive Officer Report Donald informed delegates that he had no updated
information other than the BSC which have been sent out as there had not been a EC
meeting since Special Conference in June. There was one disciplinary case which is
being dealt with.
There has been a lot of call with regards to Network Change and very disappointing is
the lack of knowledge that many sub Postmasters have in the options.
Met with the Citizens Advice with regards to a diversification fund to help Post
Masters change. Although this may help a few it won’t bring work and customers to
the Post Office. Many Office have changed already and would just like an option to
leave.
Donald also touched on the report that was produced by the citizens Advice knocking
service levels in locals and lack of POL training when the responsibility lies with the
operator to train his staff.
BSC 24 under the spotlight with regards to the Horizon system and what it does on
does not do. National President agreed that the Post Office did a lot wrong in the
early years but there is no evidence that the systems were at fault. The National
President also explained that the system was checked annually for its robustness and no
issues were found by these out sourced companies of which Price Waterhouse was
one. The agreement with the delegates was to accept the response but believe that the
issue would return due to MP signing a Early Day motion.
Branch Secretaries Report. Reports were received from Aberdeen, Edinburgh,
North of Scotland and South of Scotland,
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Treasurers Report; Ian informed delegates that there was less than £7000 in the
Account and after today’s meeting there would be very little left for members to hold
any Branch meetings. Donald intimated that a top up from Shoreham was imminent.
Future Structure; There was a round the room discussion with regards to the future.
It was decided to take this forward to possibly a Branch Secretaries meeting or the
February meeting. It was felt with the uncertainty of the MOU and the structure of the
Federation that we should wait for clarification.
Mail Work; There was nothing to report
Standing Orders; There was nothing to report.
AOCB; Jamil proposed Andrew Gilhoolie become an Honorary Member of the
Scotland Region of NFSP. This was seconded by Paul McBain and approved by
delegates.
Regional Secretary presented a gift to National President and thanked him for his
contribution to the meeting.
Regional Vice President thanked those in attendance and a safe journey onwards
Meeting closed 16.12
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