Parcelforce Back Pay

The department have been contacted concerning queries on behalf of Parcelforce members in relation to incorrect backpay calculations on their September payslips from the 2025 Pay deal ratified in August.

The business has shared that HR Services have advised Parcelforce of a technical error affecting the implementation of the 2025 CWU pay award in the September payroll. As far as we have been made aware, this error only affected PFW grades.

This has resulted in underpayments across a range of intermittent allowance payment types, with payment values remaining at 2024 rates rather than uplifting to 2025 values. The main payment types affected are Night Duty Allowance, Saturday Premium, Saturday Scheduled Attendance and Driving allowances.

We are informed that over four thousand employees may be affected with underpayments ranging from £25 to £104. It has been confirmed that the backpay due on the basic pay rates has been applied correctly across all grades.

The business has apologised for this error and are correcting PSP for the October payroll when all underpayments, with arrears back to April 2025, will be paid. Affected members may request an advance of up to 65% of the total underpayment and a direct contact number for HR Services can be provided by their line manager.

Obviously, this is an unwelcome development, however we are assured by Parcelforce that the problem has been identified and rectified and all members will receive their full entitlement with regard to back pay.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: jrodrigues@cwu.org quoting reference LTB 212/25.

Yours sincerely,

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

LTB 212/25 – Parcelforce Back Pay

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CWU Annual Pay Claim 2025/26 – RM Property and Facilities Solutions LTD (PFSL)

We are pleased to inform Branches that we have reached an in-principle agreement with the company in order to settle the 2025/26 pay claim.

The draft agreement was today unanimously endorsed by the Postal Executive with a recommendation to our members to vote ‘YES’ in the forthcoming ballot.

Attached to this LTB is the pay offer along with the draft agreement.

The main points of the agreement are:

Cleaners and Warehouse Operatives

A total 5% uplift in the hourly rate to the Real Living Wage Foundation recommendation of £12.60 for all cleaners and warehouse operatives and £13.85 for our London based cleaners.

Maintenance of the 50p differential for mobile cleaners meaning an uplift for this group to £13.10 National and £14.35 for London.

Engineering and Generic Admin Grades:

A 4.2% increase in basic pay.  This matches the increase achieved in the rest of the Royal Mail Group.

The increase will flow through to overtime and non-cash allowances and is effective from 1^st April 2025 for all grades.

• A target date of 31^st October to conclude and finalise an agreement on progression in the Technical Grade Structure review.
• Harmonisation onto RMG Attendance Procedure once agreement is reached in the negotiations currently being conducted.
• A trial on SISO
• Further Engineering Scheduling improvement.

We would like to invite Representatives to a special briefing in order to discuss further details.

This will take place via Teams on Thursday 2^nd October @ 11am and the following Reps are invited:

• RMPFS National Reps (Engineering and Cleaners)
• RMPFS Regional Reps (Engineering and Cleaners)
• Royal Mail Territorial Engineering Reps
• Divisional Rep (one per division)
• Branch Secretaries

We hope to have further details on the ballot timetable on Thursday, but if we have not finalised these then we will obviously issue a further LTB to this effect.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Bobby Weatherall, Acting Assistant Secretary, email: hmaughan@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Bobby Weatherall

Acting Assistant Secretary

LTB 213/25 – CWU Annual Pay Claim 2025.26 RMPFSL

Attachment: Draft Negotiators Agreement on Pay PFSL CWU 25-26

Attachment: PFSL CWU Pay Offer September 25

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POLITICAL FORUM – 6TH OF NOVEMBER 2025

As branches may be aware, the CWU is planning to hold a Political Forum this year, to debate the future political strategy of the CWU. The briefing also represents an opportunity to reflect on our views on the first period of a Labour Government, the challenge posed from Reform and the far-right and the changes in our wider political environment.

We will also be discussing the merits of a new electoral voting system (proportional representation), in line with policy agreed at our last General Conference. The NEC will take a view from this debate and then prepare a policy paper to go forward to the next General Conference on this issue.

The political forum will be held in London on Thursday the 6th of November. The address is as follows:

Mahatma Gandhi Hall
YMCA Indian Student Hostel
41 Fitzroy Square
London
W1T 6AQ

The forum is a single day-event. Branches are entitled to send a maximum of two delegates, one of which should be the Political Officer. In light of the need to engage young trade unionists, any young member who wishes to attend, in addition to their delegation from their branch, should email politics@cwu.org to express their interest.

An agenda and full details of the event will be shared with branches closer to the time. In the meantime, please email politics@cwu.org to confirm your branch’s attendance and the names of your delegates as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please contact the General Secretary’s Office at dlynch@cwu.org.

Yours Sincerely,

Dave Ward
General Secretary

25LTB208 – POLITICAL FORUM – 6TH OF NOVEMBER 2025

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CWU DEATH BENEFIT 

In accordance with the terms expressed in CWU Rule 4.1.11 Branches are advised that from the

1st October 2025 the CWU Death Benefit payment will be increased to £1,133.

This information will also be published on the CWU website, as well as in the next copy of the ‘Your Voice in the Workplace’ and ‘The Veteran’ magazines.

Any enquiries regarding this Letter to Branches should be addressed to dwilshire@cwu.org or  telephone number 020 8971 7368.

Yours sincerely,

Dave Ward
General Secretary

25LTB209 – CWU Death Benefit

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CWU Poppy Pin Badge – Orders by 1st October

We have produced a metal CWU / poppy pin badge this year. A copy of the design is attached.

We are pleased to be able to offer these to branches for bulk purchase at the price of £2 per pin. All profits made will go straight to the Royal British Legion.

To turn the deliveries around in time for the remembrance period we ask that Branches email Marcia Murray mmurray@cwu.orgwith the quantities you wish to order by no later than 12 noon on Wednesday 1st October.

The cost of any orders can be deducted from Branch rebates to make the process as simple as possible.

We believe many of our reps and members would want the change to wear the pin badge and therefore would encourage Branches to place an order with this in mind.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Webb
Head of Communications, Engagement and Media.

25LTB 206 CWU Poppy Pin Badge – Orders by 1st October

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Agenda Pad – CWU Retired Members Conference – 15^th October 2025

Branches would wish to know that the agenda for the CWU Retired Members Conference which is being held at the CWU Birmingham Branch Offices on Wednesday 15^th October has now been published on the website and can be accessed by opening the attachment or pasting the link into your browser:

Click to access Retired-Agenda-Oct-2025-1.pdf

Branch Secretaries are encouraged to print copies of the agenda and send to the delegates attending from their branch prior to the conference.   Hard copies of the agenda will be available on the day.

Branches are also reminded that Branch Secretaries should register delegates and observers to the conference by emailing conferences@cwu.org by no later than Friday 3^rd October 2025.  Confirmation of requests will be sent to branches within 72 hours.   Should confirmation not be received within this time branches are asked to contact Angela Niven on 020 8971 7237.

Attached is also a nomination form relating to the ballot that takes place at the conference to determine the two delegates to represent the Retired Members to attend General Conference 2026.

All individuals must be willing to accept nomination, and must have the nomination of their own branch and/or the Retired Members’ Committee, to be eligible.   The exception to this are members of the Retired Members’ Committee themselves who may be proposed for these positions but need to have the nomination of the Retired Members’ Committee and/or any Regional Committee.

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to Angela Niven by telephoning 020 8971 7237 or by post to head office or by email to conferences@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Dave Ward
General Secretary 

25LTB207 – Agenda Pad – CWU Retired Members Conference – 15th October 2025

Retired Agenda Oct 2025

RM Nomination Form 25

IMPORTANT UPDATE ON USO REFORM AND THE EP GROUP/CWU AGREEMENT – REBUILDING ROYAL MAIL 

Further to LTB 186/25 which set out our concerns over Royal Mail management’s position on USO Reform and their failure to communicate to managers and employees on the substance of the EP Group/CWU agreement, this LTB provides branches, reps and members with an update on all these issues following recent meetings with both EP Group and Senior Royal Mail management.

USO Reform 

 We met with EP Group last Thursday and they confirmed that given the differences that remain between Royal Mail and CWU on the approach to deploying USO Reform, alongside the need for all parties to now focus on preparing properly for the pending peak period, there will be no further deployment of the USO this year, beyond the existing 35 pilot sites.

The Union believes this is the right decision and represents a pragmatic response from the company to resolving these crucial issues, allowing for further talks to prioritise the need to reach an agreement that deploys a workable and sustainable solution, rather than one that is based on pre-determined and unrealistic savings.

EP Group/CWU Agreement 

The decision not to deploy any further USO reform this year also reflects the correct sequencing of the commitments made in section 5 of the EP Group/CWU agreement.

Both parties have now agreed to intensify discussions from next week to resolve all the outstanding section 5 issues.

In LTB 186/25 we explained that we had sent a letter to the CEO of IDS and Interim CEO of Royal Mail questioning the company’s commitment to the EP Group agreement. This letter included a comprehensive audit of the agreement and laid out compelling evidence that demonstrated Royal Mail management had not changed their managerial approach and had not implemented many aspects of the agreement.

We subsequently met the Interim CEO and his senior team and both parties agreed that we will also prioritise in discussions next week the reset of employee and industrial relations with specific actions that would be visible to our reps and members at local level.

Summary 

Whilst we recognise some progress has been made in national discussions, there is still much more work to do and until our representatives and members see a difference in the attitude of Royal Mail at local level, we will continue to press EP Group and Royal Mail on all these issues.

A further update will be issued in due course including our approach going forward with the pilot sites.

Any enquiries on the content of this LTB should be addressed to the Deputy General Secretary (Postal) department, Hayley Ford on hford@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

Martin Walsh                                                              Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary (Postal)                     General Secretary

25LTB204 IMPORTANT UPDATE ON USO REFORM AND THE EP GROUPCWU AGREEMENT – REBUILDING ROYAL MAIL

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Election of:

• Royal Mail Divisional Representative (Substitute) – Midland

Further to LTB 183/25 dated 28^th August 2025 in regard to the above.

Branches should note that a timetable for this ballot has now been agreed with the Independent Scrutineer and is as follows :-

Ballot Papers Dispatched:     22^nd September 2025

Ballot Closes:                                14^th October 2025 (1^st Post)

Ballot papers and candidate information will be sent to member’s home addresses by 2^nd class post with a 2^nd class return.

Any enquiries regarding this Letter to Branches should be addressed to the General Secretary’s Department on telephone number 0208 971 7222 or email address membersballot@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Dave Ward
General Secretary

25LTB203 – Election of Divisional Representative Substitute – Midland

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CWU Annual Pay Claim 2025 – 2026 – RM Property & Facilities Solutions LTD (PFSL)

Although our Pay Claim Letter was sent to PFSL way back in April, negotiations with the company did not begin in earnest until very recently.  The main reason for this was the take-over of Royal Mail by the EP Group putting all discussions on the back burner until this was completed.

The negotiating team met with PFSL on 21^st August, where our claim was discussed, following which PFSL submitted to the Union a proposal which was subject to further negotiation.

Branches and representatives will know our pay claim set out the following objectives:

• An above inflation pay rise.
• An increase in cleaners and warehouse operative’s pay to the Real Living Foundation recommendation.
• Parity in percentage pay terms with the rest of the Royal Mail Group for our engineers.
• Restoration of the ill-health retirement lump sum if this is achieved in the Royal Mail Group talks.

We met with the RMPFSL management team on 21^st August and they subsequently wrote to the Union on 27^th August with a closed offer, subject to further negotiation.

We held a National Briefing for our Senior PFSL Representatives and our Divisional Officials on 26^th August where we outlined the proposal from the company.  The overwhelming feeling from that meeting was that the proposal did not match the Union’s aspirations in order to settle this year’s pay claim.

At the next meeting of the Postal Executive the proposal was discussed and formally rejected by the Union and PFSL management were subsequently informed of this decision in writing.

We are awaiting a full response from the company and no doubt a further meeting will be arranged.

We will update branches and representatives as soon as there are any further developments.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to the PTCS Department at hMaughan@cwu.org and lpietrzykowska@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

Bobby Weatherall
Acting Assistant Secretary

LTB 202-25 CWU Annual Pay Claim 2025 – 2026 – RM Property & Facilities Solutions LTD (PFSL)

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SISO Overtime Management National Deployment – Joint Statement

Dear Colleagues,

Branches and Members will recall that Scan In/Scan Out (SISO) was introduced in 2022 as a digital solution to replace manual sign-in processes. Likewise, within the BRT&G Agreement (Appendix 5), Royal Mail and CWU agreed to trial using SISO data to streamline payroll, with no auto deduction of contractual pay, allowances, Scheduled Attendance and all overtime paid as verbally agreed.

Since August 2024, trial activity has continued to be piloted in Sheffield South, Sheffield South East, Pudsey and Sheepscar and then subsequently extended pilots across all Delivery Offices in the Leeds and Sheffield OPL areas.

During the trial activity various improvements/technology upgrades to the system had been made throughout the pilots. The business had stated their plan had intensified and they confirmed they had developed a training plan in place from September and likewise a National Deployment plan for its roll out/introduction by the end of October for Delivery only.

Therefore, discussions took place with the business that there was still a real issue within the vast majority of the pilots regarding the planned removal of the P552 and subsequent replacement via a digital format to ensure that all verbally agreed overtime between a COM/Manager and the OPG is paid as per that agreement.

The CWU made it clear that any further National Deployment would need to be subject to a National Joint Statement and would need to ensure that its application is fully in line with the commitments within the BRT&G Agreement and further the correspondence that was exchanged between both parties in August 2024.

As a result of discussions over the last two weeks both parties have finalised the attached National Joint Statement which confirms the following key principles are agreed and will be adhered to as part of National Deployment.

• The system aligns with BRT&G principles in that ‘all verbally agreed overtime will be paid as agreed between the manager and OPG’. Likewise, it is agreed that there will be no auto deduction of any contractual pay and allowances.
• Employees will access a new “Delivery Variable Hours” tile via the People/Robin App which will show all approved overtime and scheduled attendance for pay within 24 hours, as per the verbal agreement, ensuring employees can challenge any errors and get paid correctly.
• Given that we have been able to demonstrate the business has not fully met the digital replacement, the P552 will remain in place for all Delivery Offices and will now be reviewed in January 2026.
• Reconfirmed the importance of Weekly Resourcing Meetings and that local reps will have the ability to help future planning of the SISO attendance planning and/or ensuring any issues are resolved and/or escalated to the National JWG if needed, which includes any individual employee concerns over the payment of O/T and S/A not being in line with the verbal agreement, which will form part of the January 2026 review.
• Confirmation the review will consider any implications that may flow from Section 6 of the Rebuilding Royal Mail Agreement and equalisation of new entrants’ Terms and Conditions.
• A jointly agreed FAQ document which answers the key questions that have been raised throughout the pilot activity and will be updated during National Deployment. Likewise also attached is the WTLL brief the business will issue.
• Clarification that any extension of SISO overtime functionality to other functions will be subject to separate discussions.
• All OPGs that undertake work within Bookroom/Admin roles will be subjected to a full training programme, which will be cascaded to all CWU Representatives.

Throughout pilot activity one of the key successes with the SISO overtime management system has been the introduction of our members having greater visibility to view all approved O/T and S/A, which then ensures members are paid correctly and on time.

In addition, the safeguards in place around the verbal agreement being adhered to at all times, the continuation of the P552 remaining in offices and the ability for any breaches of verbal agreements not being honoured to be escalated to the National JWG or the signatories, alongside the wider January 2026 review, will provide the ability for members to ensure they can raise matters to their Local/Area Reps where there are issues or breaches to what has been agreed.

Any enquiries to the content of this LTB should be directed to the Outdoor Department email address: pharacz@cwu.org and lpietrzykowska@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Bouch
Assistant Secretary

LTB 201-25 SISO Overtime Management – Joint Statement

Joint Statement SISO Overtime Management Final

SISO OT in Delivery WTLL 1 National Roll Out v1.14

SISO_Overtime_FAQs v3.8

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