National Joint Statement : Delivery Revisions

[TrueBlueTerrier]

No. 817/14
Ref: 230.05
Date: 17th December 2014
To: Branches with POSTAL Members

Dear Colleague,

National Joint Statement – Delivery Revisions

Further to the National Joint Statement on Growth, Efficiency & Incentives, and the circulation of the Delivery Revision Guidelines and associated documents, we have been in dialogue with Royal Mail regarding the provision of some supporting documentation and clarification to enable a structured and balanced approach to revision activity to take place, as it was evident that some clarity was required on the national Joint Statement.

As a consequence the attached Joint Statement has been agreed and is designed to provide guidance on the approach to be taken by CWU Representatives and Royal Mail managers within the context of the Joint Statement on growth and efficiency, and is intended to assist in progressing the completion of phase one of the revisions process and the categorisation of all delivery units as part of the local reviews.

Once this categorisation is completed the units will then be placed in priority order by the CWU Divisional Reps and Delivery Directors, taking a balanced view in line with the Joint Statement on growth and efficiency, and all managers and CWU Representatives are encouraged to support this approach to ensure you have a full categorised list progressed up to the completion of phase one by the time of your respective National Delivery Revision Briefing in January. It is also important for Delivery Directors and CWU Divisional Representatives to resolve categorisation issues, and prioritisation in line with these timescales.

Thereafter, where appropriate the revised revision guidelines and supporting documents will come into play, although the Joint Statement does allow for some local latitude to take place where unit led revisions are concerned. It is hoped that this will allow positive dialogue to take place and assist in moving revision activity forward on a joint basis to tackle the impact of workload changes in a fair and balanced way.

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 230.05.
Email address: hnutley@cwu.org or Mstewart@cwu.org


Yours sincerely

Bob Gibson
CWU Assistant Secretary – Outdoor

[TrueBlueTerrier]

National Joint Statement
CWU/Royal Mail Approach to Delivery Revisions 2015/16

This document needs to be read in conjunction with the Joint Statement on Growth, Efficiency & Incentives, and the Delivery Revision Guidelines and associated documents. It does not replace any of these documents or take precedence. It is intended to provide additional information and clarity regarding the delivery unit reviews and categorisation of units. Any issues of interpretation or the status of this document should be jointly referred to the signatories of this document via the Delivery Director and CWU Divisional Representative.

It is important for everyone to understand and take into consideration that the planning resource (revision managers ) is limited and therefore a prioritisation will need to be agreed at Delivery Director and Divisional Representative level taking a balanced approach to align this resource to delivery units for Q4 14/15 and full year 15/16.

Units that require a full structural revision should in any intervening period prior to their revision continue to effectively manage resourcing to workload via the nationally agreed and recognised resourcing to workload documents and procedures.

The Joint Statement referred to above states the following

In order to respond to these fast moving market dynamics and help sustain the principles and employee protections that underpin the national agreement, Royal Mail and CWU have agreed to address efficiency issues in a structured and balanced way, reflecting the different situations that exist locally as follows:

Local resourcing and workload reviews

All offices will undertake a local resourcing and workload review. In Delivery, the local parties will jointly establish and agree, depending on their local circumstances, whether the review can be managed effectively through weekly resourcing meetings, or whether they require a more in depth reorganisation through a unit led revision or a full scale structural revision. These approaches will be carried out fully in line with existing national agreements, joint statements and guidelines, including the new delivery revisions guidelines and PIR, model week guidance V2 and where necessary the nationally agreed traffic measurement process.

Although these local reviews are part of a national programme, full account will be taken of offices that have already recently undertaken revision/resourcing activity or improved their performance through other initiatives.  A priority will be to address units that face Direct Delivery competition in their own locations and those units that have experienced sustained growth and now require additional support. 

All proposals arising from the local resourcing and workload review are subject to the full terms of our nationally agreed industrial relations procedures and these local reviews are designed to equally address situations where workload has increased as well as decreased.

It is recognised that all businesses have targets to achieve and Royal Mail is no different. However, it is reaffirmed that Royal Mail’s own targets will not predetermine or dictate the outcome of these reviews - instead this is a matter for discussion and agreement between the local parties.

The objectives of the local review are as follows:

To address increases or decreases in workload. In delivery the review of workload will also take account of changes in delivery points, delivery to neighbour and the overall mix of traffic, including parcels and door to door.
To address variability in workload.
To maintain and where possible increase efficiency and quality of service.
To enforce the right of employees to a fair and manageable daily workload, remembering there is a limit to what employees can reasonably be expected to do.
To maintain reasonable employee earning opportunities.
To reduce agency and casual staff.
To fully apply the terms of the national Job Security Agreement in relation to the employment of fixed term contract staff and the opportunity to increase part time contractual hours to reflect the hours actually worked and planned.


In line with the above the following approach should be adopted.

The Structure and Managing the Approach

In advance of the Delivery Workshops in January CWU Divisional Reps and Delivery Directors should meet to discuss the Joint Statement and the recent Delivery Revision Guidelines and associated documents to agree a general approach to the programme of revisions, including an overview of the principles contained within the documents

Following this they should meet with their respective CWU ADRs/DSMs and Local CWU Delivery Reps/DOM’s to cascade the output of the above to provide a framework/guidance for the local discussions regarding the categorisation/criteria for the local reviews.

This approach should be used to allow CWU Reps and Managers discuss the national agreements and supporting joint statements and raise any necessary questions or clarification required in advance of the Delivery Briefings/Workshops. This is designed to support the agreed prioritisation of delivery units in advance of the January workshops, who will be carrying out full structural revisions,

At this stage no delivery unit requiring a revision should move beyond Phase 1 until they have attended the Delivery Briefings/Workshops in January 2015. Following this

Units requiring a full structural revision will follow the revision guidelines implicitly including the provision of the appropriate ‘Just in Time’ training.

Unit led revisions will determine locally the level of detail/change required to address the local issues and will jointly identify the level of training required to enable the change(s) to be deployed effectively. Any training requirements will need to be flagged up by the local parties to the CWU Divisional Reps and Delivery Directors to put the training in place.

Units categorised as manageable through weekly resourcing meetings should continue to manage their resourcing to workload via the weekly resourcing meetings as normal

This structural approach agreed for each of the Delivery Directorates must be forwarded to the respective HQ’s for monitoring/governance purposes.


Categorising the Delivery Units following a Review

Each Delivery Unit should be reviewed to determine which one of the following categories they will fall into:

A. Manageable through Weekly Resourcing Meetings
B. A unit led revision
C. A full scale structural revision

The following criteria should be considered in determining the categorisation:

Has the office experienced any major change due to the impact of direct delivery competition
Is the unit going to be impacted by direct delivery competition in the next three months
Is the delivery USO being achieved
What is the office’s current performance measured against the target performance
What are the average weekly hours that are being lapsed
If there is regular absorption, what is the weekly hours being absorbed
What is the current staff in post (SIP) against the TM1
Has/is the office experiencing any significant traffic growth
Has/is the office experiencing any significant delivery point growth
Has there been a significant change in the office traffic streams, such as, parcel growth-v-letter decline
Are all the duties in the unit aligned correctly to workload and are all paid hours being worked consistently
Are managerial hours being used to meet USO
Compare the current model week to the updated model week
Are there any agencies or casual staff being employed in the unit?
How recent was the structural change in your office deployed
How successful was the structural change
What size is the unit? Small, medium or large

Any disagreements in regard to this process of determining categorisation should be progressed to the CWU Divisional Rep and Delivery Director ASAP for resolution.

Ownership of the joint review

1) It will be for the local CWU rep and the DOM to conduct the review and decide which category/ efficiency approach is appropriate to their office. This may be supported by the ADR/DSM where required.
2) Once the local CWU rep and DOM have jointly agreed the categorisation and efficiency approach, it will then be presented and recommended to the CWU Area Delivery Rep and DSM
3) Following consideration of the review by the CWU ADR and DSM, it will then be shared with the Delivery Director and CWU Divisional Representative within the particular delivery directorate area
4) The Delivery Director and CWU Divisional Representative will then discuss and agree a priority order of offices where a structural revision is to take place, and this will be based on a fair and balanced approach taking into account, what revision manager resource is available.

In considering the above units must be sure they have a reliable base/start point as follows

Establishing the Baseline (Phase 1)

The following items need to be included in all local delivery reviews in addition to the nationally agreed revision checklist- phase 1, to establish and agree the unit’s base data.
Identify any operational hours/workload being performed by managers on a frequent basis, both indoor and outdoor.
Identify/ Establish current actual performance within the unit
Establish actual indoor and outdoor hours being used
TM1 – Identify contract status of all individuals within the unit, including Temporary contracts.
Establish actual hours being worked by part timers- full use of the job security agreement.
Examine, and establish the actual traffic figures/data and arrival patterns/times, including traffic split and volumes etc. Use the recently agreed joint statement on traffic measurement process and review guidelines if necessary.
Fully review the current Indoor Work Methods in the unit and establish the actual use of the current equipment and processes in place. Is this in line with and consistent with the national and local agreement?
Identify any problem deliveries, especially those that constantly overrun. These maybe because of Delivery Point growth or demographics - areas that have more packets and attendance calls requiring additional time to adequately cope with the extra workload.
Is the 30mins flexing up being used regularly and is there a pattern to this
Identify and agree Facilities for the revision, this is not just about the level of release time but also who is going to be involved, any equipment that is needed along with office space etc and support.
Flag up and identify any summer or resourcing plans that have been put in place and also identify any National postings or known events, i.e. general election 2015.


All units should ensure there is full CWU H&S involvement at an early stage (this provision is included in the checklist already, however it is important to establish their early involvement and build in to the revision process.



Gary Burgess………………………………………….. Bob Gibson………………………………………..
Royal Mail CWU



Date: 16th December 2015

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Before they start on a new and revised delivery revision plan they should make sure that ALL offices have had the 2010 revision.