Delivery
1. Seasonal Variation
1.1 Royal Mail and the CWU have agreed an approach which supports the need for
Royal Mail to be more flexible in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The
approach will also support the Universal Service Obligation and ability to meet quality
of service targets against varying levels of workload over the seasons of the year.
The approach is based on a mutual interest approach and will aim to maintain job
security and secure terms and conditions for employees. Seasonal variation aims to
better align our scheduled hours in different blocks of the year to the typical workload
in those periods. In doing so it also aims to: -
- • Improve productivity and efficiency and USO/services standards for customers
and ensuring all workload is cleared including door to door.
• Reduce the need for outdoor lapsing and absorption which is unpopular for
employees
• Provide more consistency of delivery time for Estimated Delivery Windows for
customers
• We agree that employees’ weekly hours will be adjusted up and down by a fixed
amount for a block of weeks and their start and finish times will vary slightly
depending on seasonal peaks and troughs of work.
design set out below.
1.2.1 The initial design for Year 1 will be jointly reviewed to capture lessons learned, take
feedback with an aim for improving the approach.
1.2.2 Seasonal variation would be applied in the Delivery operation over 3 periods during
the full-year cycle, as outlined below: -
- • Week 39 to Week 8 at 37 hours (Mid Period - approximately half the year)
• Week 9 to Week 23 at 35 hours (summer period – lower workload)
• Week 24 to Week 38 at 39 hours (autumn period – higher than average workload
over our peak season).- 1.2.3 The adjustment referred to above of 2 hours up and down per week in a seasonal
block is based on a 5-day Full Time attendance, and this will be deployed as 24 mins
per day of variation regardless of duty pattern (+/-) for full timers and 10 mins per day
(+/-) for part time employees.
1.2.4 The first deployment of seasonal variation will be in Autumn 2023 and will require the
additional time to be worked before the standard duty current start times. The impact
of this will be reviewed to assess if it creates issues such as instances of running out
of work between wave 1 and wave 2 arrivals impacting indoor productivity.
1.2.5 In the first summer period 2024 the reduction in time for part timers will be at the end
of the duty enabling an earlier finish (by 10 mins). In order to keep shared van finish
times aligned the full timer finish time will also be 10 mins earlier and the start time
will be 14 mins later. This will also be reviewed after the initial pilot to see if the full
reduction in time can be from the end of the duty.
1.2.6 The seasonal adjustment will be applied equally to all days of attendance over the
week in a seasonal period. In initial deployment this will be applied as 24 mins per
day for a full timer, including job shares and 10 mins per day for part timers. The part
timer adjustment reflects the part of variation associated with the outdoor element of
work as we need to keep shared van pairs aligned in their attendances to manage
the workload together. Because the summer and autumn periods are the same
number of weeks, the adjustments up and down in attendance time are the same.
1.2.7 The seasonal overlays will be applied on top of long and short duty patterns.
1.2.8 Consistent with current agreements Annual leave will be booked in hours versus the
“planned” hours of the season. A typical full timer would have 35 hours deducted for
a full-time week of leave in Summer and 39 in Peak. Exact deductions would be
applied on a daily level based on the work schedules in PSP. Sick leave continues to
be recorded in instances / days.
1.2.9 Pay for duty hours will be the same for all weeks of the year and not altered against
the seasonal profile.
1.2.10 Whilst there will be minor misbalances over rotation periods (e.g., Wallington and
other rotation types) these will correct themselves over multiple rotation cycles. (For
the purpose of clarification there will be no adjustment or accrual of hours between
seasons to account for rotation imbalances)
1.2.11 Where the length of the day impacts on the meal relief entitlement these will be
calculated in line with the “Way Forward” agreement.
1.2.12 This seasonal approach will impact on delivery roles which have outdoor delivery
content as these are the duties where workload varies during the three periods.
Other roles such as collection duties and indoor roles do not see the same seasonal
variation and so will have consistent attendance length across the year. As part of
the future joint review of seasonal working arrangements it may be determined that
some indoor roles do see a seasonal fluctuation e.g., locker roles or CSS operators
and bring them into scope.
1.2.13 Where a Reserve is in a resourcing group which has seasonal adjustments, and they
cover roles which do not have seasonal adjustment (e.g., a locker or A-task role)
their hours credited for the day covering an indoor role will be reviewed so that they
are occupied and not disadvantaged. For example, if they are on low period hours
(35 per week) and they cover an indoor role (37 per week) then at the weekly
resourcing meeting it can be jointly agreed that on the day individuals can reduce the
specific content from the indoor role down to the daily equivalent to support 35 hrs
per week or be paid overtime to match to 37hrs per week. At peak times if the
reserve is being paid for 39 hrs per week and covering a role scheduled for 37hrs per
week then they will be given additional content to fill their available hours.
1.2.14 One aim of seasonal variation is to significantly reduce the need to lapse and absorb
as the change in workload is factored into the length of the duty. It would also
increase consistency of Estimated Delivery Window as the deviation from historic
delivery time is reduced. Where a unit has more workload variation than 2 hours per
week per full time role in the “low” summer period, additional leave slots in summer
along with structured absorption could be deployed to enable more leave and support
the productivity flightpath. The joint pilot activity as part of this initiative will enable
evaluation of the opportunity to do this through feedback and from those units
involved. Both parties will jointly look ahead at the forecast workload which will also
help inform next year’s annual leave pick, including the overlay of seasonal
adjustments.
1.2.15 We will jointly monitor holiday pay to understand how the seasonal approach and the
alteration of the pattern of overtime impacts on the current regularity threshold of
holiday pay paid under the existing policy/system at different times of year.
1.2.16 We will also jointly review the guidance for annual leave pick arrangements and
additional leave purchase and commercial forecasts and workload forecasts to
support the seasonal approach from 24/25 onwards.
1.2.17 A further aim of the seasonal hour’s approach is to maximise consistency of duty
cover, which helps with familiarity for frontline OPG’s and consistency for customers
and so the core of work through the different seasons is intended to be the indoor
and outdoor work related to the listed duty for walk-holders. There may be instances
where there is a gap between supply of hours and workload which needs to be filled
with productive work, and we will aim to do this from additional work added to the
core duty rather than reallocating people to alternative duties with more workload.
This will be an output of the weekly resourcing meetings.
Deployment approach
1.3 There is joint agreement to deploy seasonal variation across the delivery operation in
order to better align resource to workload across the seasons of the year. A short pilot
will inform the national rollout. (Full deployment from Autumn 2023)
1.4 This approach will be piloted in 10 units nationally based on the key principles outlined
above. The pilot units will include a mix of small, medium, and large units, town, rural
and university areas, (as university areas can in particular see a sharper fluctuation in
workload during the year cycle). The pilots will run from May 2023 (week 9) and review
towards the end of the low season (Week 20). The pilots will need to use manual work
packages to set up and manage the seasonal working which will require high levels of
local involvement and co-operation. We will deal with the exceptional situations where
someone considers they cannot adjust to the seasonal approach requirements locally,
but the starting point is that everyone in the unit and working on in-scope roles
undertakes the seasonal variation.
1.5 The pilot approach will generate learning on how best to deploy seasonal variation
taking into account other change activity such as network review. The pilots will also
explore how we can jointly reduce summer lapsing and absorption through this
approach. Pilot units will continue with the approach.
1.6 During the pilot phase all units will undertake preparatory work to accelerate expanded
deployment for the autumn period. National deployment of seasonal variation will
commence with an annual cycle commencing week 24 of 2023 as we enter the high
season.
1.7 The outputs of the pilot will inform a review of annual leave planning for 24/25 which will
take place during October 2023.
2. 30 Minutes Flexibility Agreement, meeting customers’ need
In parallel with the Seasonal Variation approach, we will also jointly review the approach to
the use of 30 minutes’ flexibility previously agreed in the 2007 Pay & Modernisation
Agreement and in line with the 2013 Joint Statement covering Fairness, Dignity & Respect in
Delivery. This joint review will be to understand how this approach can address workload
changes at a route level on a daily basis and develop a revised agreement which will support
the efficient delivery of the USO.
The review will gather information relating to how the existing policy is being applied and
what arrangements are in place in units, particularly where this approach has been
formalised and adopted. The review will also consider and determine how SI/SO data can be
used with applying this flexible arrangement. The review will conclude by the end of July
2023, and there will be a joint launch of a revised formalised approach to the 30 minutes’
flexibility agreement.
Deployment approach-
It is agreed that:
• In 2023 in advance of the Network Window change there will be no change to
delivery duty start times relating to this project. Where there are managerial
proposals to alter start times these must be supported by changes to local workload,
or productivity changes and be subject to the full terms of the IR Framework.
• Both parties recognise that changes to start and finish times are of concern to many
employees in Delivery and commit to seek to minimise change in start and finish
times whilst still achieving the necessary improvements in cost and environmental
impact.
• Both parties are committed to a joint programme of work designed to achieve the
necessary Pipeline, work flow and Mail Centre cycle time improvements required to
limit the change to start and finish times up to a maximum of 60 minutes. To achieve
this, joint activity will be undertaken at a national and local level to review all such
opportunities to advance workload and facilitate this outcome.
Where improved product flow is consistently achieved as a result of the activity set out
above and sustained for a period of 3 months prior to deployment in March 2024 then
start and finish times will be moved accordingly. Performance during this period will be
jointly monitored and reviewed by the Joint Working Groups with a view to resolving
any issues.
• Where this programme of work does not make it possible to limit the change to up to
60 minutes, during March 2024 delivery start and finish times will move up to a
maximum of 90 minutes later as a result of extended network window, the last letter
delivery time at this point will move to up to 16:30.
Exception process for all employees (Delivery, Processing, Distribution) to
accommodate caring and other requirements
As a result of the above changes to working patterns many individuals will need to adjust
their attendance times. Royal Mail will ensure that in the vast majority of cases these
changes will be minimal and can be accommodated with enough notice and support.
However, some employees will have responsibilities and commitments in their personal lives
which may make this more difficult. Royal Mail will therefore strive to accommodate at all
times the needs of individual employees, whilst also meeting the needs of the operation.
Royal Mail and the CWU will jointly develop the process and guidance which will be used to
support all front-line employees.
- 1.2.3 The adjustment referred to above of 2 hours up and down per week in a seasonal
