Postal Agenda Pad – Tuesday 12th – Thursday 14th May 2026

No. 117/26

21^st April 2026 

TO:    ALL BRANCH SECRETARIES 

REGIONAL SECRETARIES 

DIVISIONAL REPRESENTATIVES

SUB DIVISIONAL REPRESENTATIVES 

FLEET TERRITORIAL REPRESENTATIVES 

RM ENGINEERING REPRESENTATIVES 

RMPFS REPRESENTATIVES

RMPFS CLEANER REPRESENTATIVES 

REGIONAL PARCEL ORGANISERS

Dear Colleagues,

CWU POSTAL AGENDA PAD – TUESDAY 12^TH – THURSDAY 14^THMAY 2026

Branches would wish to know that the agenda for the CWU Postal Agenda Pad which is being held in the Solent Hall at the Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth from Tuesday 12^th – Thursday 14^th May 2026 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 POSTAL-AGENDA-2026-WC.pdf

Hard copies for your delegation can be collected on Saturday 9^th May 2026 when collecting   your credentials.

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

LTB 117/26

POSTAL AGENDA 2026 WC

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ROYAL MAIL: WINDING UP THE RMDCP SCHEME – TRANSFER OF MEMBER ASSETS TO LEGAL AND GENERAL MASTERTRUST IN JULY 2026 – WEBINAR 

Further to LTB 087/26 dated 25th March 2026.  

Branches and Representatives are reminded that our members in the Royal Mail Defined Contribution Plan (RMDCP) have now received a communication from the Trustee advising that the scheme is winding up with all savings/assets invested moving to the Legal & General Mastertrust from July 2026. 

All reports received indicate that the first Webinar on this matter which took place on 14th April was well received and informative.  Therefore, Representatives are encouraged, where possible, to join the next session on Thursday 23rd April at 14:00-15:00.  You can register for this event via the following link: 

 Upcoming changes to the Royal Mail Defined Contribution Plan 

 Also, attached to this LTB is a set of slides entitled “Understanding the changes to Royal Mail Defined Contribution Plan (RMDCP)” which provide a detailed explanation of what is happening to the RMDCP, why it’s happening and when.  For further key information, please visit: 

 www.legalandgeneral.com/rmdcp 

 If you have any queries in relation to this LTB, please contact Samantha Nicholas at snicholas@cwu.org  or Heidi Maughan at hmaughan@cwu.org 

 Yours sincerely,  

 Andy Furey  

Assistant Secretary  

LTB 115/26

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CWU TELECOM AND FINANCIAL SERVICES AGENDA PAD – TUESDAY 12^TH – THURSDAY 14^THMAY 2026

Branches would wish to know that the agenda for the CWU Telecoms and Financial Services Agenda Pad which is being held in the Tregonwell Hall at the Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth from Tuesday 12^th – Thursday 14^th May 2026 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 TFS-AGENDA-2026-WITH-COVERS.pdf

Hard copies for your delegation can be collected on Saturday 9^th May 2026 when collecting   your credentials.

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

LTB 116/26

Att: TFS-AGENDA-2026 

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CWU AND ROYAL MAIL AGREEMENT – MEMBERS COMMUNICATION 

We have attached to this LTB a copy of our first members communication which is being issued today direct to member email addresses.

This is the first in a series of communications and others will follow in a way that focuses on specific areas of the agreement.

You will see that prior to the ballot taking place there will be a range of different written and digital communications to our members.

We will also be providing our representatives with briefs to convey the key messages to our members in workplace meetings.

We would ask that Branches ensure that copies of the members communication are also distributed in the workplace.

Further information will follow in due course on the ballot timetable.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Walsh

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)                                  

Dave Ward

General Secretary   

Tony Bouch

Assistant Secretary                    

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary                    

Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary               

LTB 114/25 – CWU AND ROYAL MAIL AGREEMENT – MEMBERS COMMUNICATION

Att: Royal Mail agreement all member communication April 2026

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Eurest (Ex Quadrant) Pay Settlement 2026 – Ballot Result

Further to the contents of LTB 085/26 the department has now received confirmation of the result of the ballot on acceptance of the Eurest Pay Settlement 2026.

Ballot Papers Dispatched:                                           120

Ballot Papers Returned:                                               59       (49%)

Votes to accept:                                                           57       (97%)

Votes to reject:                                                            2         (3%)

On the basis of the above, the Pay Settlement for Eurest members has been endorsed. The department has communicated the result to Eurest and arrangements are being made to ensure that the pay uplifts will be applied to April’s salaries due for payment on 1^st May 2026

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: jrodrigues@cwu.org  or jmansell@cwu.org  quoting reference LTB 113/26.

Yours sincerely,

Davie Robertson
Assistant Secretary

LTB 113/26 – Eurest (Ex Quadrant) Pay Settlement 2026 – Ballot Result

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CWU AND ROYAL MAIL GROUP AGREEMENT

We are pleased to announce that CWU and RMG have reached an agreement for the national deployment of USO Reform and how we move forward the equalisation of new entrants’ pay, terms and conditions.

This agreement also confirms Pay 2026 and relaunches the Rebuilding Royal Mail Part 1 & 2 agreements – that will now be delivered in full with the confirmed ongoing involvement and support of the UK Government.

The agreement (full copy attached) has been unanimously endorsed by the CWU’s Postal Executive and the key points are set out below.

USO Reform

• It has been agreed to set aside the ODM and in acknowledging the lessons learnt from the pilot sites and feedback from our members – a new delivery model (2026), based on the union’s heavier and light delivery model will now be rolled out nationally.
• The new delivery model introduces 3.5k new walks, 10k walks being switched to heavy and light and 6k part time to full time uplifts to support the 4 into 3 structure.
• The agreement reaffirms the importance of job security for our members and there will be no compulsory redundancies from USO Reform and MTSF will apply to support all employees through change.
• The agreement includes comprehensive and very robust processes and safeguards that have been put in place at local level for pre-deployment and post-deployment reviews.
• The new processes are specifically designed to support local employees, representatives and managers being able to have a greater say and influence over how USO Reform will be deployed – with the ability to utilise their local knowledge and experience within the overall parameters set. This includes local representatives and employees having a major influence over how to fix any issues that may arise.
• The need to have in place a fully resourced office prior to deployment and to ensure that manageable workload, quality of service and USO coverage is being achieved has been prioritised. This will be supported with strict reviews at various stages and no surplus can be confirmed until this criteria is being met on a regular basis.
• The company has agreed that critical to the successful deployment of USO Reform is the need to deliver a quality of service improvement plan that delivers on the promise to put postal workers and customers back at the heart of everything we do. The union and the Select Committee (confirmed in writing) will continue to hold Royal Mail to account on these crucial issues.
• The company has also agreed that critical to the successful deployment of USO Reform will be the reset of Employee and Industrial Relations. A plan for this reset will be published in the next two weeks.
• The agreement sets out the benefits for employees of the new model which will increase the number of Saturdays off for full time and part time employees as well as the opportunity for earlier finishes on a Saturday, subject to local factors and current duty patterns.
• A new delivery site incentive scheme will also be introduced for each office in conjunction with the roll out of USO Reform.
• To move forward the commitment to introduce new ways of working, a pilot will be agreed as part of the roll out of USO Reform and we will encourage offices to participate in this pilot and come forward with ideas that can be of benefit to employees and the company going forward.
• There is a comprehensive full deployment agreement which covers all aspects of how USO Reform will be deployed and you will find this at Appendix A of the attached agreement. The full agreement will be explained and you will see how it provides comprehensive safeguards and protections for our members.

Equalisation of new entrants’ pay, terms and conditions

• The agreement acknowledges the need to refresh our approach to equalisation and confirms a first step and a process that will lead to the next step and the plan to achieving equalisation following the next formal review which will take place no later than January 2027.
• The first step ends the practice of Royal Mail recruiting full time staff on 40 hours per week and commits the company to only employ new full-time staff on 37-hour contracts.
• The first step also reduces the pay differential for new entrants by increasing their pay rise by 1.75% over the 3% for employees on the old contracts.
• The first step also provides additional measures that are designed to support retention of employees.

Pay 2026

• Branches will be aware that we had already agreed a 3-year pay deal with a reopener clause should inflation be above 3% or below 2%.  This reopener clause was also due to take into account the financial position of the business at the appropriate time.  Therefore, rather than delay a pay rise we have agreed a 3% pay increase to be introduced quickly and backdated to the 1^st April and if the actual average CPI for January, February and March 2026 is above 3%, the difference will be considered for payment following successful deployment of USO Reform.

Relaunch of the Rebuilding Royal Mail Part 1 & 2 Agreements

Royal Mail have reaffirmed their commitment to delivering in full all aspects of these agreements and crucially the UK Government has agreed to monitor and support progress going forward.  This reflects the assurance the new owners gave to employees and the UK Government at the time of the takeover.

Ongoing Government Involvement and Select Committee Scrutiny

Branches will be aware that because of the support of our members and the influence of the union, the Government intervened through its tripartite meetings and separately the all party Parliamentary Select Committee has scrutinised Royal Mail’s quality of service failures.  We can all take encouragement from the fact that the ongoing involvement of the Government has been confirmed and the Chair of the Select Committee has also confirmed, in writing, that they will continue to scrutinise the need for Royal Mail to significantly improve quality of service going forward. We will explain the importance of this at today’s National Briefing and in our subsequent engagement with reps and members.  As a result you will see that the agreement confirms that we will now launch a joint campaign with the company to achieve a fairer regulatory environment and address the exploitative labour models that our competitors utilise to undercut Royal Mail.

We are confident that if this agreement is confirmed it will pave the way for serious discussions with the Government on why it is in national interest for these issues to be properly addressed.

Next Steps

We all know that for a number of years there has been major problems with customer service failures and a managerial ethos that was installed by the previous board and that has never really changed, the combination of which has led to continuing chaos in the majority of our delivery offices.  The Postal Executive is firmly of the view that the best opportunity to significantly improve quality of service and finally change the managerial ethos is by supporting this agreement and move forward with the continuing scrutiny and involvement of the Select Committee and Government.

It is now imperative that all Branches, Representatives and members have the opportunity and time to fully consider this agreement properly –  not only on the basis of how we have moved the company significantly on all the key issues – but also in its wider context around why USO Reform is necessary and why we must shift our focus to changing the role of Ofcom and create a level playing field with our competitors.

Delivering change will always be difficult but we are clearly in a stronger position to support our members under the terms of this agreement.

Finally, we will ensure full engagement with all of our representatives and members on these issues prior to a membership ballot and the approach and timetable for this will be issued in due course.  This commences today with a National Briefing on Wednesday 15^th April followed by Local Reps Briefings and direct written communications with our members and at the appropriate point, a CWU Live show.

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to the Postal Department, Hayley Ford on hford@cwu.org and General Secretary’s Department, Dawn Lynch on dlynch@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Walsh                                                             

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

Dave Ward

General Secretary    

Tony Bouch    

Assistant Secretary                           

Davie Robertson      

Assistant Secretary                 

Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary                   

LTB 112.26 CWU AND ROYAL MAIL GROUP AGREEMENT

LTB 112.26 ATT Final Agreement USO Deployment and New Entrants 13th April 2026 v3

LTB 112.26 APP A USO Deployment Agreement FINALv1

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The 37th Hazards Conference 2026 – 4th-6th September, Keele University

To:   All Branches

Dear Colleagues,

For the special attention of all branches and CWU Safety Reps, this LTB is to inform you that Reservations are now open for the 37th Hazards Conference, which takes place from 4th-6th September 2026 at Keele University.

In-Person Registration: Hazards Conference 4-6 Sept. 2026

The Hazards Conference has always been one of the biggest conferences for trade union safety reps and activists. It consists of a mixture of plenary sessions, meetings and a comprehensive workshop programme. Delegates have an opportunity to exchange experience and information with and learn from safety reps from other unions, sectors and jobs across the UK. This year’s theme is-

Mind & Body: The Critical Work of Safety Reps in Protecting Workers 

As in previous years, Hazard conference 2026 will educate, inform and connect safety reps from unions around the country along with helping to empower reps in preventing risks to workers.

The conference for 2026 will include sessions on:

• Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace – what is it and where to start?
• Technology – observations, having a say and using it in safety.
• 2026: The year of Trade Union action on climate change – impact, assessment and what next?
• Protecting workers now and into the future – obstacles and opportunities.

The Hazards 2026 conference is primarily an in-person event; however, some limited sessions are available to join online, a link to the online delegate booking form is shown below.

Online Delegate Only: Hazards Conference 4-6 Sept. 2026

Nominations are now open for the most effective worker Health and safety campaigns, good practice or activities over the last year, these can be submitted by branches, individuals or selected groups. Each year Hazards Conference will award certificates of excellence to celebrate health and safety work and campaigning.

Certificate of Excellence: Nominations for Effective Worker Safety Campaigns 2026

The Hazards Campaign works by sharing information and skills. It campaigns on specific issues and acts as a national voice on safety, through the issue of press releases and through organised conferences and meetings.

Hazards Magazine

Hazards magazine is the only independent, union-friendly magazine to win major international awards. It provides the information and resources to make the union job easier by using a global network of union safety correspondents, whose aim is to provide the best information available anywhere.

The British Library described Hazards magazine as ‘’The most useful source on health and safety for trade unionists.” 

Branches or individual CWU members may be interested in supporting and subscribing to Hazards Magazine here: – Hazards magazine

The Hazards 2026 Conference timetable is attached with this LTB

This LTB is shared on behalf of CWU Central Services.

If you have any questions or need any further information, please contact-

Jamie McGovern FRSPH MIIAI 

CWU Health & Safety Policy Assistant at jmcgovern@cwu.org

LTB 110/26 – HAZARDS Conference 2026

Attachment – Timetable – Hazards Conf 2026

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Local Reps Briefings – Resolution of RMG/CWU Dispute Resolution Processes – Deployment of USO Reform and Equalisation of New Entrants’ Terms and Conditions

As part of our normal consultation process, eight briefings for Local Representatives will now be held.  Branches are asked to encourage as many Local and Shift Reps to attend as possible.

Local Reps Briefings 

The venues and locations are confirmed as follows:

11:00-16:00 on Thursday 16^th April at Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL (London & Anglia Local Reps Meeting)

11:00-16:00 on Friday 17^th April at Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL (South Central and South East Local Reps Meeting)

11:00-16:00 on Monday 20^th April at Augustine United Church, Sanctuary Room, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EL (Scotland Local Reps Meeting)

11:00-16:00 on Tuesday 21^st April at Liner Hotel, Lord Nelson Street, Liverpool L3 5QB (North West/North Wales Local Reps Meeting)

11:00-16:00 on Wednesday 22^nd Aprilat 47 Summer Lane, Hockley, Birmingham B19 3TH (Midlands Local Reps Meeting)

11:00-16:00 on Thursday 23^rd April at Angel Hotel, Dragon Suite, Castle Street, Cardiff CF10 1SZ (South West/ South Wales Local Reps Meeting)

11:00-16:00 on Friday 24^th April at Radisson Hotel, North Street, York YO1 6JF (North East Local Reps Meeting)

11:00-16:00 on Monday 27^th April at The Catalyst Building, Queens Road, Belfast BT3 9DT (Northern Ireland Local Reps Meeting)

Arrangements have been agreed with Royal Mail for local representatives to be released therefore can Divisional Reps please liaise with their respective ROD in order to ensure this is done.

Yours sincerely

Martin Walsh

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

LTB 109/26 – Local Reps Briefings – Resolution of RMG-CWU Dispute Resolution Processes – Deployment of USO Reform and Equalisation of New Entrants’ Terms and Conditions

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Royal Mail: Sports and Social Clubs – RM Decision to Stop Subscriptions from Payroll – DRP Registered

Further to LTBs 074/26 and 086/26 dated 6^th and 24^th March respectively.

Branches are advised that we have not yet received a response from Royal Mail to the formal escalation of the Point of Principle disagreement over the cessation of subscriptions to Sports & Social clubs directly from payroll.

We do of course acknowledge that everyone is extremely busy due to the wider talks on USO and Equalisation, which is clearly the priority, and also the Easter holidays have meant a number of key people have been on annual leave.  However, we are continuing to push for a response to our representations on behalf of our members.

It should be noted that management are claiming their actions are in accordance with their own policies and that the matter is not governed by a Collective Agreement.  However, I am clear that the union does not support the cessation of subscriptions to the Sports & Social clubs via payroll and if anything, a new sophisticated payroll system should make subscriptions such as this easier to administer, not harder.

In closing, Branches and Representatives are reminded they should highlight the concerns of the impacted members to the appropriate HR Business Partners and also engage directly with the administrators of the Sports & Social clubs who should also object to these unnecessary changes.

Further developments will be reported.

Any queries in relation to this LTB should be directed to Samantha Nicholas at snicholas@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

LTB 107/26 – RM Sports and Social Clubs – Decision to Stop Subs from Payroll

Andy Furey 

Assistant Secretary 

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