LTB 279/20 – Annex to the Joint Statement for Inflight and Redelivery Phase 1 Enhancements for Royal Mail Tracked 24 & 48 and Special Delivery Guaranteed National Deployment

No. 279/2020

29th May 2020

Annex to the Joint Statement for Inflight and Redelivery Phase 1 Enhancements for Royal Mail Tracked 24 & 48 and Special Delivery Guaranteed National Deployment

Dear Colleagues,

The National Joint Statement (attached for your reference) was previously endorsed by the Postal Executive and consisted of a pilot of the above service in some selected delivery units in the South Central and Anglia divisions (which is the Royal Mail Home Counties North area) and this was communicated via department Memo to the Divisional Representatives and Area Delivery Representatives on the 12th May 2020.

As previously advised, this initiative is fairly “light touch” with no indoor operational impact and no changes to current standard operational procedures, with simple prompts to delivery staff through the PDA on the doorstep for either Deliver to Preferred Neighbour or Safeplace and in line with the current and existing Standard Operating Procedures. The actual switch over on the PDA in order to enable the prompts is done remotely from the Delivery Office.

Following the pilots, we have agreed with Royal Mail to proceed with the national roll-out and the Phase 1 enhancement to launch Safeplace and Preferred Neighbour options from the 3rd June 2020 for Royal Mail Tracked products only. This can also benefit receiving customers who are self-isolating and support maintenance of social distancing principles. Royal Mail will also offer Safeplace and Preferred Neighbour as additional options on Redeliveries for Royal Mail Tracked. This limited number of outdoor enhancements can also help to maintain social distancing when the UK moves out of lockdown with specific industries resuming operations.

In order to take the above aspects into account along with the scale size of the pilot, we have jointly agreed through the attached annex to the Joint Statement that the following activities will need to be carried out in order to continue to Nationally and jointly monitor and resolve any issues that may arise as part of the Phase 1 national rollout from June.

•   Both parties have agreed to continue to monitor volumes, process compliance, along with monitoring and capturing any additional task times due to the increased activity along with any customer contact/complaints etc (whilst also taking account of the current pandemic and its impacts).
•   This ongoing review will be further supported by a wider IE study activity in relation to the possible workload impact of Deliver to Neighbour and Safeplace options. A timetable for this IE study activity will be jointly agreed as soon as possible and subject to the current COVID-19 crisis and the impacts of this.
•   Additionally, and as part of the national launch, regular meetings will be set up between the project team and CWU Representatives to review information (including number of items generated Inflight/Redelivery active and location data), monitor progress and resolve any issues arising from the field.
•  Selective sample locational data will continue to be collected for a period of time in order to capture DTN distances from DP’s.

In terms of the overall workload impact on deliveries, this aspect needs to remain under review in relation to the introduction of this service and as above, we will continue to monitor and review this impact along with resolving any further issues.

Any enquires as to the content of this LTB should be directed to the Outdoor Department, reference 555, email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch

CWU Assistant Secretary

RM_CWU Joint Statement for Inflight Redelivery and Phase 1 Enhancements for RM Tracked 24 & 48 & Special Delivery Guaranteed