8 weeks in

[Chasdad]

Sorry to continue the history of the newbie postie but here goes. Asked last week to go to another office and next week will be my second there. Chucked at a new frame with no explanation of how things work at a different office and given a start time of 7 am and all d2d still do to for the week . A different walk every day last week with frames that are totally wrong for the walks. Also learned for the first time that ot rates are reduced after a certain amount of hours on top of contracted. Is this right? If so after six monthsand hopefully made permanent I will refuse to work more than 4 days a week. My wife doesn't work as we have 4 kids between 2 and 10 and both the old and new Tory governments can do one if they think I'm working for nothing.

[wannabeek]

It's not that your hourly rate of overtime is reduced after certain hours, as such (though that used to be the case until recently). Once you have worked 39 hours then you will have earned the full quota of the Delivery Supplement added onto your usual part-time wages to bring you up to the same level of pay as a full-timer with the full Delivery Supplement. As soon as you work over 39 hours there is no further Delivery Supplement to be added so you are effectively being 'reduced' to the same level of pay as everyone else. Am I making no sense here? It used to make sense to me, but now I'm not so sure, now that I'm saying it...

[arnold cheshire]

It's not that your hourly rate of overtime is reduced after certain hours, as such (though that used to be the case until recently). Once you have worked 39 hours then you will have earned the full quota of the Delivery Supplement added onto your usual part-time wages to bring you up to the same level of pay as a full-timer with the full Delivery Supplement. As soon as you work over 39 hours there is no further Delivery Supplement to be added so you are effectively being 'reduced' to the same level of pay as everyone else. Am I making no sense here? It used to make sense to me, but now I'm not so sure, now that I'm saying it...

overtime is reduced after 49 hrs not 39

[wannabeek]

Used to be, but not now I think. I used to get a reduced overtime rate for 'over 10 hrs' (I do a lot of OT, and I'm full time now). Nowadays I'm pretty sure that it stays the same rate, even after a lot.

[Chasdad]

Cheers that's cleared it up, I think. My only concern is that on a 25 hour contract I will get a reduced hourly rate after 35. Bearing in mind my supplements are capped at 25 in any case.

[rubberbond]

Sorry to continue the history of the newbie postie but here goes. Asked last week to go to another office and next week will be my second there. Chucked at a new frame with no explanation of how things work at a different office and given a start time of 7 am and all d2d still do to for the week . A different walk every day last week with frames that are totally wrong for the walks. Also learned for the first time that ot rates are reduced after a certain amount of hours on top of contracted. Is this right? If so after six monthsand hopefully made permanent I will refuse to work more than 4 days a week. My wife doesn't work as we have 4 kids between 2 and 10 and both the old and new Tory governments can do one if they think I'm working for nothing.

And it's the government's fault ,because? Did David Cameron personally force you to apply? surprised he had the time.
Just do as most people tell you to do on here,work to your time,start and finish on time at your own office, etc.
Unfortunately ,not being told anything is the Royal Mail, " way". You get used to it after a while,probably 10 years or so. It's just the way it is,always has been,always will be.

[plaguelift]

Cheers that's cleared it up, I think. My only concern is that on a 25 hour contract I will get a reduced hourly rate after 35. Bearing in mind my supplements are capped at 25 in any case.

Mr Cheshire is correct, the overtime rate only decreases after 49 hours worked (39 hours (full time) + 10 hours overtime (only a few pence more per hour)). After 49 hours, the hourly rate drops below the "normal" hourly rate. In short, if you're full time, you can work 10 hours overtime in the week, then any overtime after that will be paid less than your normal hours.
In your case (25 hours) you could an extra work 14 hours at normal rate and 10 hours overtime rate (49 hours alltogether) before your hourly rate would go down. Basically everyones overtime rate starts after 39 hours, the next 10 hours are overtime rate, and after 49 hours, a reduced rate.

[NewPostieUK]

On the one hand, it's not that much, why be bothered about it, on the other, where I come from, all overtime is time and a half, except Sundays double time and bank holidays treble time and/or a day off in lieu. I'd heard rumours of weird places that paid only time and a third, but was still gobsmacked when I started at Royal Mail to find the crazy state of affairs. No wonder they are happy to pay out so much overtime.