Urgent advice needed Re VR

[Midnight+13]

Greetings,

I would really appreciate some advice re VR. I have seen an official Royal Mail email regarding the amount I would get if i took voluntary redundancy, the figure is good, however, I have been told that I need to have made a decision by Saturday.

Surely this can't be right, should I at least have the offer In writing, before making a final decision.

Any official document or advice, would be very welcome.

[baldrick]

When I took VR in 2013 I was called into office and shown VR figure on pc by manager and given a printout and told I could decide if I wanted to accept or think about it and come back the next day. I wasn't sure what he meant about working my notice or working half of it or leaving without notice, so I said I'd get back to him. I had a word with the Area Rep who said PILON wasn't paid any more, so I went back the same day and told the manager I wanted to accept the offer and work my 12 weeks notice.
It took another four weeks to get the formal VR offer letter, which had to be signed and returned within 14 days.

If you have only been shown an email it would be just to know if you are interested in accepting the offer.
You have to be sent the formal offer in writing which you have to sign and return before it is binding on you, and RM aren't committed to giving it to you until they send you the letter with your Last Day of Service.

[Martin Walsh]

If you want to proceed with the offer of VR you will then get a formal offer. That formal offer allows you 14 days to decide to either accept the offer of reject the offer. If you accept this offer it is legally binding on both you and Royal Mail.

No manager can say you have till Sunday to decide. I think what they are saying is that if you want to take the opportunity to have your 12 weeks notice period paid without you working you have to sign the legal notice before the 27th March.

The formal offer is generated from Chesterfield and therefore does take time to generate and given the numbers who possible want to take the opportunity to take pilon terms then obviously this could cause a backlog of formal offers.

Lets face it , why would you want to work 12 weeks notice when Royal Mail will pay you 12 weeks pay for staying at home or on leave if you sign up before the 27th March with union agreement to the job reduction.

[Scotland1]

Dingo, is there a document that we can see or download regarding the 12 weeks, I said this to my boss and all he said was, the folk that r going through vr are only getting there holidays, max 7/8 days

[Martin Walsh]

The National Joint statement came out last week and it applies to all VRs signed up by the 27th March. It has been on this site. The only exceptions are if its is an outstanding BT revision.

[fishtank]

Dingo, In your opinion do you think RM will honour the 12 week PILON even if they go beyond the 27th March due to processing delays as long as they were formally accepted before then?

[Martin Walsh]

It will only apply if you are off the books in this financial year. Clearly Ofcom and the shareholders want a reduction in headcount for this financial year which Royal Mail has not achieved

[fishtank]

It could leave members out of pocket and perhaps open the company up to some legal challenges if the processing delays are down to Chesterfield, perhaps the union should be looking for some guarantee that any offer made and accepted in good faith is honoured.

[Martin Walsh]

Why ? The real problem is that an office would have to agree to a reduction in jobs to allow the Vrs. Only then will the 27th issue come in mind. Remember if an office agrees one VR the most senior person who wants VR in the office will get the formal notice which they have 14 days to respond whether they accept it or not if too late the next person in line will be too late for pilon. Remember whether you get pilon or not there is no difference in the VR money you recieve the only difference is that on your 12 weeks notice if you have pilon terms you don't work your notice period whereas if you don't then you will work your 12 weeks notice taking any leave you are due.

[Chilli pepper]

Be careful I just taken my VR and paid 40 p/c tax plus higher nat / insurance costing me quite an amount you should try to hold out until after April if you can .

[genesis]

Do you pay national insurance on the vr payment as well?

[Chilli pepper]

Yes can be at higher rate !,

[Midnight+13]

Do you pay national insurance on the vr payment as well?

First £30000 of VR is tax free, you'll pay tax on anything over this amount and will pay tax and NI if you take pilon.