LTB 412/21 - Average Pay on Annual Leave (Holiday Pay) in Royal Mail Group - Joint Statement for Back Pay Arrangements

[POSTMAN]

https://www.cwu.org/ltb/ltb-412-21-aver ... angements/

LTB 412/21 – Average Pay on Annual Leave (Holiday Pay) in Royal Mail Group – Joint Statement for Back Pay Arrangements
No. 412/21

29th September 2021

Dear Colleagues,

Average Pay on Annual Leave (Holiday Pay) in Royal Mail Group – Joint Statement for Back Pay Arrangements

Further to LTB 370/21 that was circulated on 6th September 2021, Branches and Representatives will be aware of the ongoing talks to agree with Royal Mail Group the definitive dates for back pay for those members who are weekly paid as well as those who receive a monthly salary.

Branches will recall that back pay is dependent on individual members having withdrawn their Employment Tribunal cases and meeting the agreed qualifying criteria as contained in the national agreement. To put this into context, there were over 6,000 Employment Tribunal cases in England and Wales alone as well as the additional claims in Scotland and Northern Ireland which related to average pay on annual leave.

Following the endorsement of the national agreement and in line with the Court order, every member who had submitted an Employment Tribunal claim was written to by the Legal Services Department. The letter asked them to indicate whether they wish to withdraw their case and therefore be included in the back pay calculation or whether they would rather proceed with the case on their own.

Following the initial letter, circa 2,500 members agreed to withdraw their claims with a small minority indicating that they wished to continue. There were around 2,400 that failed to respond plus approximately 1,200 people who could not be identified as they had been included in multiple claims by the Employment Tribunal in Bristol to help with administration. The latter group did not receive this first communication.

As part of the dialogue with the business, the DGS(P) Department made it clear that we could not support a scenario where the overwhelming majority of members’ back pay was delayed due to a minority who had either not responded or could not be identified. Following further work with the Membership and Legal Services Departments as well as assistance from the North Lancs and Cumbria Branch and the Worcester and Hereford Branch, the number of unidentified Employment Tribunal claimants was vastly reduced. This undoubtedly helped in concluding the attached Joint Statement that was unanimously endorsed by the Postal Executive at a meeting on 27th September 2021.

In advance of this agreement being reached, a further letter was sent from the Legal Services Department to those members who failed to respond to the first correspondence and those previously unidentified claimants. This provided these members with a further chance to withdraw their individual Employment Tribunal cases and therefore be included in the arrangements for the payment dates as clarified in the Joint Statement.

Branches and Representatives will recall that all back pay had to be calculated manually by Royal Mail Group. As a result, the cut-off date for information to be included in the PSP system in order to meet the 8th October 2021 deadline for the weekly paid members was 9am on Friday 24th September 2021. Those who did not return confirmation of their Employment Tribunal withdrawal by this time will not be included in the pay run for 8th October 2021. Those members who still respond positively to withdrawing their Employment Tribunal cases but return forms after this time will be included at a later payment date of 22nd October 2021 and the deadline for meeting this date is 3pm on Friday 8th October 2021. Monthly paid members will receive their payments as part of their October salaries on 30th October 2021.

In the future, there are likely to be a number of additional agreed dates for back pay as it is obvious that the withdrawal of Employment Tribunal claims will not all be at once. Branches will note that the proposed Joint Statement crucially contains a clause that individuals who do not meet the above mentioned deadlines will still receive a back payment after this time, once they have withdrawn their individual claim. These future dates will need to be agreed but will depend to an extent on the volumes and Royal Mail Group being able to process these throughout the peak period.

The back pay has cost Royal Mail Group a significant amount of new money. Branches will appreciate that it has been a long journey to get to this point but at last many of our members will now see some real recompense for the additional hours of non-contractual overtime that they have performed. Coupled with this, Branches and Representatives will also see that the dates for the first interim payments for the 29th March to 26th September 2021 qualifying period have now also been confirmed as being 26th November 2021 for the weekly paid and 30th November 2021 for those on monthly salaries. These interim payments apply to everyone who meets the qualifying threshold and are not dependent on the withdrawal of Employment Tribunal claims.

The back pay will be a new payment for many thousands of members and there are likely to be substantial enquiries regarding individual calculations. The national agreement stated that these should be initially made to HR Services and the proposed Joint Statement builds upon this with other more defined options including the use of the People App and the My HR Help web form on PSP. Branches receiving enquiries about back pay should direct members to these.

In closing, I would like to record my thanks to Tony Rupa and the Legal Services Department for their help in resolving what became an incredibly complicated matter.

Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Pullinger

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

Attachment to LTB 412/21 – Joint Statement between the CWU and RMG – Update on Average Pay on Annual Leave (Holiday Pay) Back Pay Arrangements

[broughts]

So what are the payment dates 8 th October or 26 th November?

[casualnowwithangard]

If I've understood it correctly;


8th October for the backpay last 2 years

26th November for first 6 months this financial year

[broughts]

Thanks getting conflicting messages

[world class male]

https://www.cwu.org/ltb/ltb-412-21-aver ... angements/

LTB 412/21 – Average Pay on Annual Leave (Holiday Pay) in Royal Mail Group – Joint Statement for Back Pay Arrangements
No. 412/21

29th September 2021


The back pay has cost Royal Mail Group a significant amount of new money.

Terry Pullinger

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

Attachment to LTB 412/21 – Joint Statement between the CWU and RMG – Update on Average Pay on Annual Leave (Holiday Pay) Back Pay Arrangements

what a complete utter waste of space this bloke is!
if only the cwu pressured rmg to do the correct thing years back,
they've saved millions in back pay over the years not included in this deal

[HTPostman]

Thanks getting conflicting messages

It’s very long winded and badly worded, I can only assume whoever writes these for the union is paid by the word!

[Dexydog]

It's worded like RM are doing us a massive favour by paying us (less) than we should have been receiving for years.
They must be laughing their heads off at what they have got away with, both in the past and going forward with people losing out left, right and center with the myriad of hoops to jump through.

[fb1969]

Yet another union statement that reads like it was written by the company.

[broughts]

It’s a shocking deal more strings than the London philharmonic and massive losses over the years well done CWU another s**t deal just like the 1% pay rise now it’s a 3% cut

[worktotime]

f***ing disgusting and a disgrace imo and they think they have done summat good

[Kaning It]

So, existing ongoing claims will only cover the previous periods and those who refuse to withdraw get the new deal going forward regardless.

As for the new money comment, I think what they mean is that Royal Mail has saved themselves a shed load of money by not paying their staff proper holiday pay for years and they thank the Union for delaying and rolling over.

[Grumpyoldmailman]

Will a detailed breakdown of the calculations be available for members who don’t trust RM to get their sums right. What about members who’s contracted hours have changed within the 2 year period, how are RM going to work the maths on that. Too many unknowns at the moment.

[smartin1982]

Will a detailed breakdown of the calculations be available for members who don’t trust RM to get their sums right. What about members who’s contracted hours have changed within the 2 year period, how are RM going to work the maths on that. Too many unknowns at the moment.

Exactly. I want to see dates and working for my totals.
If they have had to do it manually it should all be available.
Of course it won’t be though, just like the last time they issued back pay for the pay increase. They just added “other” to the payslip. I worked out, after going through every payslip for 12 months they were £98 short. Not a small amount out.
I can only imagine how much they saved as how many people actually checked? I’d recommend everyone asks for detail and checks their figures.

[smartin1982]

Oh and Pullinger,
This hasn’t cost RM a lot of new money,, it’s saved them a fortune over the years through unchallenged illegal practice.

What is that supposed to imply? We should thank them?
You absolute mug.

[rubberbond]

Does this apply only to those of us who submitted claims , or does it apply to everyone regardless? If so I may as well have not bothered submitting my tribunal claim and just waited for the negotiation to takes it’s course.