The SubPostmaster Magazine

News roundup
Post Office Ltd
announce Operational
Excellence Initiative
ost Office Ltd (PO) released
P
information last month
relating to remuneration
and the Operational
Excellence Initiative.
PO has developed remuneration
increases and every postmaster will
receive a one-off payment, equal to
15% of their variable remuneration for
March 2024 trading, which will be paid
this month.
PO will also be launching an
Operational Excellence Incentive to
give colleagues the opportunity to
boost their total variable remuneration
by 5% each month, by meeting
existing operational requirements for
running your branch.
These payments will be based on
meeting specific requirements for
daily cash declarations, cash pouch
remittances, cash holdings and
monthly trading accounting.
The first remuneration payment for
the incentive will be made on 30
September and will be based on
activity in the August trading period.
PO says the improvements will
collectively be worth £30 million for
postmasters.
PO will share more information and
support on Branch Hub over the
coming months.
NFSP STATEMENT
During the 2019
Remuneration Review, the
NFSP recognised that
postmasters were not
remunerated for all of the
work they do on behalf of
PO.
Therefore, we
encouraged PO to look at
how postmasters can be
remunerated for this work
that primarily would be
classed as back office.
In the summer of 2023,
PO agreed to carry out a
time and motion study on
exactly what work a
postmaster and their
assistants carry out on
their behalf as part of their
daily tasks.
At the same time, the
NFSP recognised that
there were certain tasks
that could reduce PO
central costs and looked to
work with PO on
producing a model that
enabled postmasters to
share in any savings.
This is what Back Office
Payments, or as PO calls it
Operational Excellence, is
about and PO says the
improvements are
collectively worth
£30 million for
postmasters. This is the
start rather than the end
of this exercise as the
NFSP seeks to work with
postmasters and PO to
improve remuneration.
As we communicated
before, the NFSP’s desire is
for PO to come to us to
have open and meaningful
discussions in regards to
remuneration in advance
of any changes.
This is to enable the
NFSP time to properly and
fully engage with the
network to seek their
views and feed back into
the ongoing discussions
with PO, so we can come
to an amicable and
pragmatic agreement that
is beneficial for the
network.
As part of that desire, on
18 January, the NFSP held
a national meeting and
invited all members to
attend so that we could
discuss in an open and
transparent manner
Operational Excellence.
At that meeting
colleagues guided the
NFSP as to their views on
how Operational
Excellence could be
improved and also
provided their thoughts on
the level of remuneration
associated with that.
This was then fed back
to PO in January. Despite
requests from the NFSP to
discuss the views of
colleagues with regards to
remuneration on
Operational Excellence, PO
has only just come back to
the NFSP to indicate what
is available in relation to
any changes that could be
provided.
However, as is clear, PO
has engaged with the
Postmaster NEDs, regional
forums, and the
Postmaster Experience
Director. As indicated in
Calum Greenhow’s
newsletter column last
month, we highlighted
how PO is engaging with
these different groups and
then coming back to the
NFSP with the view that
the proposals offered are
acceptable to these other
groups, despite the NFSP
bringing the views of
postmasters with whom
they have engaged with
on national calls.
Therefore, there is still
work to be done to make
the necessary
improvements that are
acceptable to postmasters.
Unfortunately, the
lateness of PO’s response
and their desire to
communicate with the
network, has prohibited
the NFSP from engaging
further with colleagues to
seek whether they are
agreeable to the
amendments.
Whilst the financial
benefit will not be fully
realised until September,
the NFSP expressed the
view that colleagues
require help and support
now to be able to fund the
rise in their costs
associated with providing
PO services.
Leaving the introduction
of Operational Excellence
until September gives us
the opportunity to support
and help colleagues to
understand how this work
can benefit them. When
Operational Excellence is
launched, we will be able
to hit the ground running
and immediately benefit
from the financial
increase.
PO will be providing
colleagues with an
information pack in due
course which we would
urge you all to read, and
feedback to the NFSP
whether you agree with
the proposal or not.
6 The SubPostmaster April 2024