WITN10370185 - Second Sight Mediation Briefing Report Draft v2 30th July 2014: Reactive Comments Regarding Subpostmaster Contract
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LEGALLY PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL.
SECOND SIGHT MEDIATION BRIEFING REPORT DRAFT V2 30" July 2014: REACTIVE COMMENTS REGARDING SUBPOSTMASTER CONTRACT.
1. Executive Summary
2
‘Key Points’ at #2 below, and expressed
in more detail in the table at #4. .
2. Key Points.
2.1 There is no evidence that Second Sight (2S) have considered that the ‘contract’ isd armed gluse by the contract booklet, but a number of other
(online) manuals, booklets, and operational in instructions issued by POL from tiftie,t 10% e, whith are supportive. This exposes the limitations and
2.2 There is no evidence that 2S have contextualised risk with reward.
parties to the agreement on consideration of signing. Equ ig Rete IS
nationwide.
2.3 The report expresses a series of subjective opinions regarding the
2S have raised are incredibly selective and self- serving. There fan I e
selected by agents, even though 2S would haveisee
2.4 The fact that the report is silent on the foléof thelNEs? ery notable, and would indicate that 2S had considered that it would have been entirely
, sO bist Bard eth deliberately.
Eon tl elteports comments regarding the subpostmaster contract. I have not evaluated any other drafting.
4. Tabulated comments for internaland ete positioning.
tract, many of which are unqualified and un-evidenced. The evidential points
lence of any attempt to present counter points, or to refer to drafting not
>
unhelpful to several of their argument
Le
3. Scope: To examine and comme!
Ref. Items ofconcern _ Interhal congient External positioning
2.3 The reports indicates ay This reference i is opaque, as the report POL believe that their contracts are fair, and make clear the risks and
and “transfer of financial and does not say ‘transferred from where, potential rewards to its 11,500 agents, and would expect that any (new)
2.6 other risk’ and in the “Whom, or what’. The wording itself is agent would have taken independent legal and financial advice when
context of new agents. pejorative, as it implies a POL agenda in I doing due diligence as part of their application.
‘transferring risk.’ The risk is not
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transferred, it is accepted by both
parties.
2.3
The report speculates
that agents may not have
understood the risks.
This is just supposition as it is not
evidenced that there is an underlying
problem here.
Whilst POL should not provide legal or financial advice as a proxy,
before, during and after the ppointment process POL are equipped and
content to discus$} the agent’Scontract with the agent, and have a
ee ot
2.4
The report mentions
elements of the contract
that agents have referred
to.
It is trite but these agents are a self-
selecting group, and it is not a sound
approach to only look at discrete parts
of the contracts when evaluating any
dispute;the contract should be looked
at in its entirety, and aspects of law
should be considered in doing that >
dedicated team forithat .
POL would é ents I to read all of the contract before
deciding that it i is for, them, in the context of the rewards available for
contract. ‘We believe that the entry level, and the ratio
ofr kto rewatd is a good one in the market place, and that is
n by thetfact that we have an estate of c.11,500 branches run
24
The report mentions
elements of the contract
that agents have referred
to.
For a report to be balanced and fair, I
would have expected it to make noteof)?
example cacioggpea pthat + he
crystal clear that agents a arel ‘hot to make
private use 6f, POL funds
2.5
The report states that the
contract is biased in
favour of POL, and can
operate to the detriment
of the agent.
This is an unqualified statement and is
ely, ard, method Sof m
fan tl eteforet akes Beenie
award ratio. It also
ails to recognise that
regulations, and are of
cours@)subject to challenge in law.
POL strongly believes that its contracts represent a fair ratio of risk to
reward, and that it’s terms are fair on both parties. The attractiveness of
our proposition is evidenced by the fact that POL are able to attract
suitably motivated independent business people in a competitive labour
market, that contribute to the success of our brand. POL strongly
believes that it would be misleading to view its contracts with its agents
through the very small and narrow prism of dispute resolution.
25
The reports states that
there is no sighted
evidence that POL advises
I Thelreport does not say whether such
evidence had been requested.
Currently, POL go to great lengths in its
POLs agents are self-employed business people who would be used to
agreeing contracts with their suppliers and employees. Despite this, POL
does clearly indicate to potential new agents the importance of taking
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it’s agents to seek
independent legal advice.
Engaging Agents materials to advise
potential new agents to take advice.
independent legal and financial advice.
25 The report states that This is correct. POL could not manage POL could not managedfs estate efficiently on the basis of having
POL do not vary the its estate efficiently on the basis of bespoke terms for its agetits, and if it chose to do so it could provide an
terms of their standard having bespoke terms for its agents, unfair competit vantagesto one agent at the expense of another.
contract. and if it chose to do so it could provide
an unfair competitive advantage to one
agent at the expense of another.
2.6 The report indicates that I The contracts make clear the POLMavela dedicated team who are happy to discuss with its agents
agents are unable to obligations and risks, and the onus is on ways of mitiga ing rishi their Post Office business.
manage risk if they do not I the agent to seek advice if they do not "
understand it. understand the obligations in their
contract. an
2.6 The report suggests that I The report completely ignores tht POWdoes take great care to discuss proposed changes with the
agents are hostage to that agents can serve notice on the fe organisation that represents subpostmasters, NFSP. We do recognise
POL decision making. contract, and that POL c nse a me of our agents will wish to serve notice on their contracts and
NFSP on changes affecting agents, pursu other interests, and when they do that we always seek to
including economic changes. appoint a suitable agent in that community.
2.7 The report suggests that I This is untrue. Agents canidispute, POL has dispute resolution systems in place that mean that disputed
un-evidenced losses are losses, and theseare frequetitly neat losses can be held in suspense whilst POL is providing further evidence
recovered from agents. suspense whilst PObis(providing, to support the loss recovery.
evidence to support the Joss recd¥ery.
yak eX mention of the
fact aghthat sMiessyter r reports back
Surplus@s,in agents favour.
2.8 The report states that _ I Rather a self-defeating point to make as I POL would encourage it’s agents to read all of their contract with us,
agents are unaware off I it indicates that the agent has not read_I and seek independent advise.
section 19. L section 19.
2.9 Makes the point This is because the issue is a private Should an incident escalate so that the Police are involved, and the
regarding legal matteP at this point, the report does not I agent is interviewed formally, the agent would be allowed to have legal
representation. Say/Why it is considered to be unfair. representation.
2.10 I Makes a number of This is just unsubstantiated, self-serving I Contract booklets are not signed by agents, however they do sign to
points regarding sight of
hearsay evidence. Contract booklets
acknowledge receipt of the contract booklet on transfer. Agents are
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the contract
are not signed by agents, however they
do sign to acknowledge receipt of the
contract on transfer. Agents are able to
read the contract as part of due
diligence, and seek advice, and request
a copy of their contract from HRSC
should they misplace it.
able to read the contract as part of due diligence, and seek advice, and
request a copy of their contract from HRSC should they misplace it. We
are always concerned to find that documents have been misplaced and
have taken steps to imp! our document retention systems so that
the impact pf an jan eI is mitigated.
Paul Inwood
Agents Contracts and Policy Development Manager
4" August 2014.
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