THE SUBPOSTMASTER - JUNE ISSUE

MAILBOX
Your letters answered by Post Office Ltd
and Jon Follenfant, NFSP Members’ Editor
Postmasters need to plan for cost increases,
so will we hear about remuneration increases
before dipping into our own pockets?
R
emuneration is
always a hot
topic and we do
see a pattern of
Post Office Ltd (PO)
applying increases one
way or another. However,
this is insufficient to cover
the ever-increasing costs. I
have rapidly increased my
shop sales from £6k per
annum to £40k but still
struggle to pay the bills.
Will there be an
enhanced recognition that
remuneration needs to
increase and that
communication must take
place by early January next
year to allow business
owners to plan for the
Living Wage increases?
Martin Rudderham
Skellow PO
POST OFFICE REPLIES
Paul Liddiard, Head of
Postmaster
Remuneration
Development,
writes:
Thank you
for your
questions
and I’m
pleased that
you have
recognised the
increases in
remuneration.
As you have stated,
postmasters, like many
retailers on UK high
streets, are facing a very
“I have
increased my
shop sales rapidly
but still struggle
to pay the
bills”
challenging economic
landscape right now.
We are committed to
seeing postmasters share
more in the profits we
make. Postmasters now
receive more than half of
the variable income PO
makes.
At the end of March, we
announced a
remuneration package for
postmasters worth £30
million for the 2024/25
financial year.
As part of that, our new
Operational Excellence
Incentive Scheme will
directly reward
postmasters who deliver
strong performance in
certain back-office
activities. In turn, this also
helps to save money that
is then available to use
elsewhere, including
future remuneration
reviews.
We’re also
ensuring that
postmasters
share in
profits from
online
platform
products.
More widely,
we are always
looking for new
opportunities to
improve branch
profitability. You’ll be
aware we have introduced
in-branch sales with
carriers other than Royal
Mail, for example. We are
also negotiating the next
Banking Framework
agreement, which will be
a vital part of protecting
remuneration, and we
have secured a renewed
commitment with Bank of
Ireland, which will see us
continue to provide a
wide range of
savings
products
online and
in-branch.
As you
know, we
now review
remuneration
annually, and we
are committed to
updating postmasters
before the start of each
financial year in April. We
will endeavour to make
future announcements as
early as possible, but the
timing is largely driven by
budget setting processes,
including the need to
understand the impact of
any Royal Mail tariff
changes once they are
announced.
MEMBERS’ EDITOR
REPLIES
Many thanks to Martin
Rudderham for his letter
about increases in PO
remuneration and the
timing of any
announcements of those
“Many
postmasters
have had to dip
more deeply into
any profits they
make”
pay increases, and to Paul
Liddiard for his response
on behalf of PO.
Postmasters, like any
other businesspeople,
have to plan ahead and
budget. More so over the
last two years because of
the unprecedented
swingeing increases in the
cost of running a post
office. These
costs, primarily
in employing
staff and
energy, have
in no way
been offset
by increases
in payments
by PO. The result
is that many
postmasters have had to
dip more deeply into any
profits they may be
making on any associated
business or, in few cases,
savings. This amounts to
an unseen subsidy of PO,
a government-owned
institution, by the very
postmasters who own and
operate them. This must
stop.
It is interesting to
consider Paul’s comments
that increases in
remuneration worth £30m
have been announced for
the current financial year
and that perhaps more
might flow through from
the next Banking
Framework agreement
June 2024 The SubPostmaster 29