Post Office: Customer Advisor Grade Harmonisation to Postal Officer & Historical Pay Progression
No. 155/21
Dear Colleagues
POST OFFICE: CUSTOMER ADVISOR GRADE HARMONISATION TO POSTAL OFFICER & REMEDY TO ADDRESS HISTORICAL PAY PROGRESSION ARRANGEMENTS
Branches are advised that the Postal Executive earlier today endorsed a Collective Agreement (attached) with the Post Office to harmonise the Customer Advisor (CA) grade within the Service & Support Team in Chesterfield to Postal Officer (PO).
The harmonisation in grade from CA to PO will create greater opportunities for upskilling and development and takes affect from 1st April 2021 with those impacted receiving a variation to their contract detailing the enhanced harmonisation terms. With the exception of improved pay (where applicable), all other contractual terms & conditions such as working hours and location remain the same.
The table below demonstrates how the agreement will financially benefit our members:
CA levels CA Grade PO Progression PO Grade % increase
Level 1 £20,560.84 Entry £21,768.83 5.87%
Level 2 £21,066.07 Mid point £23,319.96 10.7%
Level 3 £24,077.84 Max point £26,848.94 11.51%
Historical Pay Progression Arrangements – Agreed Remedy
During the grade harmonisation negotiations, it came to light that a significant number of CAs (c.90) had not had the opportunity to progress through the pay increments. Seemingly this situation has existed since 2013 and applies to all new entrants from this date. Essentially, this meant the CA members had been denied the ability to progress up the pay scales and as a consequence had been financially disadvantaged.
The Post Office accepted this error and as a result agreed to retrospectively pay in full each employee’s backdated pay. Depending on their length of service, this will mean a sizeable lump sum for many. Members have been informed of this development via the attached Joint Statement.
Effectively, the Collective Agreement means our members will benefit from a higher basic pensionable pay in the future and will also receive past monies they are due. The increase in pay and pay progression arrears will be paid to members with the May salaries.
Team Preference Exercise – Job Allocation by Seniority
The grade harmonisation is an integral part of the Post Office restructure of the Service and Support Optimisation function with all Postal Officers working to the same job description albeit different teams.
All impacted members have completed options forms to indicate which teams they would be interested in working in. We are working jointly to ensure every effort is being made to accommodate as many people as possible with their first choice, this will however not be possible in all cases. Where there is oversubscription to a particular team, the selection criteria will follow the principle of seniority.
Finally, I would like to thank Lynn Simpson, Postal Executive member, for her assistance in these negotiations and for helping to deliver the positive outcome.
Yours sincerely
Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary
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