LTB 229/21 – Post Office: Service & Support Restructure and Preferencing Outcome
No. 229/21
4th June 2021
Dear Colleagues
POST OFFICE: SERVICE & SUPPORT RESTRUCTURE AND PREFERENCING OUTCOME
Branches are advised that the Post Office has been undergoing a restructuring of the Service & Support Optimisation Team which included regrading, reorganising and a reduction in headcount.
In LTB 155/21 we communicated that as part of the organisational change, we had reached an agreement with the Post Office to harmonise the Customer Advisor grade within the Service & Support Team in Chesterfield to Postal Officer. This gave many of our members a substantial uplift in pay.
On 3rd March 2021, Post Office and CWU formally began a collective consultation process which included a preference exercise asking members to indicate which Support Team they wished to work in or whether they were interested in taking voluntary redundancy. We are pleased to advise that 93% were able to get their first preference in terms of job allocation.
Audit Team members were also preferenced as to whether they wished to remain in the field or take an admin role in Service and Support. As this was a many to few situation, seniority and geography was taken into account when allocating roles (please refer to the Joint Statement dated 13th May attached to this LTB).
The exercise was complex but we were able to secure roles for all that wanted to remain working for the Post Office with the head count reduction achieved by voluntary redundancy in accordance with MTSF.
Please see below the associated Joint Statement explaining the outcome of the preference exercise.
JOINT STATEMENT POST OFFICE AND CWU
Consultation update
Further to the announcements on 3rd March regarding organisational changes to structures across the business, Post Office and CWU have been working collaboratively on the proposals throughout the consultation period. As a consequence, we are pleased to announce the headcount reduction has been achieved through voluntary means.
We have worked hard throughout the consultation process to meet the preferences of impacted colleagues as much as possible, which has been complex to achieve. Where we were unable to do this, we have been able to find suitable and acceptable alternatives.
Post Office and CWU would like to thank everyone for their cooperation and patience during this time. If you have any further questions, please contact your line manager or CWU Representative.
Lee Kelly Andy Furey
Employee Relations and Policy Director Assistant Secretary Postal
Finally, I would like to thank Lynn Simpson, Postal Executive member, for her assistance in these negotiations including the direct engagement with members impacted by the changes and for helping to deliver the positive outcome.
Yours sincerely
Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary
LTB 229/21 – Post Office – Service & Support Restructure and Preferencing Outcome