AGREEMENT BETWEEN CWU & PARCELFORCE WORLDWIDE ON 2020 AUTUMN PRESSURE AND CHRISTMAS REMUNERATION PROPOSALS FOR ALL CWU GRADE DEPOT EMPLOYEES

Branches and representatives will be aware that in previous years, agreement has been reached with Parcelforce Worldwide in relation to incentive arrangements for volunteers to attend on the Saturdays and Sundays in Depots in the run up to Christmas.

In line with this tradition discussions have been taking place with the business in regard to the arrangements for 2020. Attached for your information is the Agreement between CWU & Parcelforce Worldwide on 2020 Autumn Pressure and Christmas Remuneration Proposals for all CWU Grade Depot Employees, which has been endorsed by the Postal Executive.

As in Royal Mail, with the continuing impact of Covid-19 on customer habits and operational arrangements Parcelforce are anticipating record volumes and demand over the peak period. Given this, to provide proper incentive and reward for our members and in recognition of their commitment throughout the Covid-19 period and the size of the challenge, we have argued for and achieved a significant uplift in the available incentives for this year.

As in previous years the agreement defines incentive arrangements for volunteers to attend on the Saturdays and Sundays over the four weekends in the run up to Christmas. However, in light of the current traffic forecasts for this year, we have agreed that there will be three levels of incentive.

A Standard Commitment to two attendances (minimum six hours) mirroring previous years arrangements, attracting a single payment of £38, the same amount as last year.

An Enhanced Commitment to three attendances (minimum six hours) attracting a single payment of £60. Both these incentives will be available to employees volunteering to cover C&D, Indoor and Admin duties.

In addition, there will be a Further Enhanced Commitment to perform C&D on three attendances (minimum eight hours) attracting a single payment of £100.

This opportunity will be available to all employees willing to drive and who have the necessary skills and training. The business has agreed to provide familiarization training for any individual wishing to volunteer.

Only one payment can be received by any individual based on the level of commitment given. However in all cases where the commitment is made and the hours are performed, each hour will also attract an hourly rate of £21.50, which is equivalent to double the normal rate.

In respect to the Seasonal Traffic Recirculation, colleagues will note that the additional payment for drivers who agree to follow the work also remains at £38, the same as last year.

Unlike Royal Mail, Parcelforce have decided not to run an operation on either the 26th or 27th of December. They have therefore agreed that duty holders due to attend on those days will not be required to do so and will not have to make up the time. 

In Scotland Parcelforce are not seeking to move the non-service day to Saturday, 2nd January and as such Monday, 4th January remains the Bank Holiday and normal BH arrangements will apply. 

Obviously, given the significant increases in remuneration this year, the business is very keen to stress that this agreement does not necessarily set the benchmark for future years and as such we have agreed that the arrangements will be subject to joint review.

The department believes that the agreement will undoubtedly be welcomed by our Parcelforce Representatives and members.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org quoting reference: 106A.11.

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

LTB 531/20

Attachment 1 – Agreement on PFW Autumn Pressure and Christmas Remuneration 09.11.20

Royal Mail Christmas Arrangements 2020/21 – Christmas Pay Timetable & Pay Advice (PPD 8.4)

Branches and representatives will be aware that the Christmas Arrangements document attached to LTB 513/20 contained in Section 8, Pay Arrangements, clarification that the Christmas Pay Timetable was to be communicated separately. A copy of this timetable is now attached for your assistance.

Also attached for your information is additional documentation that has been provided by the business in the form of their Peak Planning Document 8.4, which as in previous years provides guidance on the processes for:

– Temporary Increase in Hours for Part-Time Operational Grades

– How to pay Casuals

– Policy and Guide for Schedule Attendance Holiday Pay

– Policy for Christmas Pay Supplement

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to:

Processing/Distribution: Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.orgquoting reference 706A.13

Deliveries/Collections: Mark Baulch, Assistant Secretary, email: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org quoting reference 170.

Yours sincerely,

Davie Robertson
Assistant Secretary

Mark Baulch
Assistant Secretary

LTB 530/20
Attachment 1 – Christmas Pay Dates 2020
Attachment 2 – 8.4 PPD Pay Advice 2020

POST OFFICE: JOINT STATEMENT – COMPULSORY WEARING OF FACE COVERINGS AND CLINICALLY EXTREMELY VULNERABLE

Branches and members are advised that due to increasing levels of Covid-19 infections across the UK, the Post Office, CWU and Unite have jointly agreed to put in place, until further notice, the compulsory wearing of face coverings for members working in Crown Offices and indoor operations in Supply Chain.

I want to stress that the measure to introduce compulsory wearing of face coverings is not an end in itself and does not replace other preventative, risk control measures and must be seen as one of the steps to safer working and a Covid-19 Secure workplace. The compulsory wearing of masks will give our members added personal protection and will work in conjunction with:

• PPE
• Social distancing measures
• Robust risk assessments
• Regular and comprehensive sanitising fogging (cleaning) arrangements
• Effective reporting processes already in place throughout the Post Office.

Clinically Extremely Vulnerable – Paid Special Leave

As a further precaution, members that are classed as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable will be placed on paid special leave from Thursday 5th November for the four weeks of the lockdown period. For Admin members who are able to work from home, this arrangement will continue.

Attached is a Joint Statement to our members in Crown Offices outlining the health conditions that fall into the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable category. It also highlights further safe ways of working that help to reduce risk as well as reiterates our commitment to making the operations in the workplace as Covid secure as possible.

As the arrangements agreed are generic across the Post Office, our members in Supply Chain have received similar communications, albeit in two separate Joint Statements.

Regular Covid Engagement Meetings

The overriding objective of both CWU and Post Office is our members’ health, safety and well-being in the workplace. Consequently, since the initial lockdown in March, we have put apparatus in place whereby we discuss Covid-19 with management on at least three separate occasions per week. We will continue to carefully monitor all developments from Government and where appropriate raise with management if it is in the best interests of our members’ well-being.

Finally, I would like to thank Lynn Simpson, Postal Executive member, for her endeavours in working with management on the measures and policies contained within these Joint Statements.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary

LTB 529/20 – Post Office – Joint Statement – Compulsory Wearing of Face Coverings and Clinically Extremely Vulnerable

Attachment 1 to LTB 529/20

This came into our possession this evening. We regret any compulsory redundancies among staff of RMG. The business may thrive better if they sacked the Board.
Unite (CMA) National Committee
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
RMG OD Review Update 4
October update 4th November 2020
Dear Colleague
Here is the latest update on the Royal Mail Group (RMG) Managerial Organisational Design Review relating to the reduction of 2,000 managerial jobs and group wide management reorganisation: –
Introduction
“The Numbers are the Numbers” – Business Mantra
When organisations such as RMG makes an announcement to the shareholders and the City, to reduce the managerial template to cut costs, it is usually based on a comprehensive plan. You would expect that any large company that wanted to cut a large proportion of its managers would have key enablers to facilitate the reductions in numbers, such as USO changes, Parcel Hubs, CWU efficiency agreements and staff hours reductions? Yet the enablers are missing. From a UNITE CMA perspective there needs to be detailed evidence provided so we can determine if there is a true situation of redundancy or just a slash and burn approach. To date this evidence has been missing in many of the proposals.

During the consultation exercise we have repeatedly tried to mitigate against the reductions and have offered many counter proposals, but the business negotiators appear to be driven solely by the numbers of job cuts the CEO has promised the stakeholders. The “Numbers are the Numbers” is their mantra.
They seem oblivious to the negative impact that the reductions will have on the operation itself, and only serves to demonstrate to us that they have a distinct lack of commercial awareness and a lack of foresight as to the potential damage these cuts will have on the organisation.
Current situation on Consultation on Business propositions
 We have now received most of the propositions from the key business unit functions which come into two main categories; Those under the CCO Chief Commercial Officer, Nick Landon and those that come under the COO Chief Operations Officer, Achim Dunnwald.
 Each of the two main categories have been tasked with making the businesses required headcount reduction savings and the approximate numbers for each area are as follows.
 CCO = 1133 and the COO = 677 the figures at this stage are still fluid as we seek to mitigate as much as possible.
 Commercial are bearing the brunt of these headcount reductions.
 Other smaller business units and the Levels 2-6 have also
contributed to the overall total of 2,000 roles.
 We have been able to reach a way forwards in some particular business units, others are still work in progress, but some are proving to be so implausible as to warrant sheer recklessness and high risk that we cannot comprehend why the business would want to so jeopardise and undermine the operations in service delivery with such a proposition. Up to this point the business has not been able to demonstrate any convincing or clear commercial imperative or rationale for these moves either.

Examples of some of the more preposterous proposals / propositions are below for your attention.
 Processing; removal of 176 work area manager positions, see below for some key examples but almost all Mail Centres are affected
 Manchester removal of 12 work area manager roles
 London Mount Pleasant removal of 11 work area manager roles
 Glasgow removal of 8 work area manager roles
 Nottingham removal of 8 work area manager roles
 Bristol removal of 7 work area manager roles
 Removal of all 30 Processing PIM’s
 Collections; removal of all 30 Area Collection manager positions
 Delivery; removal of 300 plus frontline managers positions
 In a three line or less managed unit, the DOM will have line responsibility for up to 40 frontline staff
 Removal of 38 Performance coaches
 HR; removal of 58 HRBP and associated
 PFSL; removal of 59 roles
 Commercial; significant across the board cuts
 Sales; removal of 88 plus Sales & associated managerial roles
 Distribution; removal of 9 LDM & support to RDCs
 PFW; removal of 20 DCM graded managers
Major concerns
 We have formed the belief that this proposal to remove 2000 jobs will damage the performance of the company.
 The proposals are in breach of our existing Agreements, namely the MTSF and AFL.

 There are no enablers to support many of the proposed reductions. There are no workload impact assessments to support any of the reductions in Operations, with workload increasing as a result of these proposals.
 The psychological & physiological impact on our loyal and dedicated managerial community is being exacerbated when the business is asking them to work long and hard hours volunteering to support the Operations during the run up to Christmas, whilst simultaneously awaiting their fate from the redundancy programme.
 The protection of the service delivery and operations elements, which are the engine of the business itself. There are no enablers to support many of the proposed reductions. No workload impact assessments have been undertaken with workload increasing in these areas.
 Our major competitors are expanding their workforce, buying and building major Hubs to facilitate the growth in the parcels market and expanding their Sales force to capture the markets. Enhancing their Fleet capacity and generally being positive about the opportunities for growth. RMG seem to be looking to manage decline.
 JE’s & JD’s job evaluations and descriptions. The scale of the exercise has a requirement for many changes to roles and all need to be checked and validated.
 Rush to open the preferencing portals in early November.
 There was a reluctance of the specific Business Units to expose their propositions to the directly affected communities to gather feedback and to not only check the viability of those propositions, but to reassure those in the post exercise templates that the jettisoned workloads do not fall onto them.
 Executive capability to professionally manage people through organisational change.

 Distinct lack of vision and ability to communicate effectively the method for change. Planning for success, as most of our competitors are doing and not managing decline.
 We can appreciate the removal of duplication where business units have been merged, but we cannot understand the reliance on mainly “self-service” options that are being relied upon to facilitate removal of roles whilst the options themselves are still under the research and development phase. We are given to understand that frontline managers will have more accountability, more responsibility, more ownership and become more reliant on the “self- service” options. All this equates to a major culture change and even more workload for all our managers which is unacceptable to us.
 Lack of progress in closing the massive revenue gap which contributes to the requirement for more managerial headcount reductions. Whilst simultaneously removing Revenue protection and Security and Investigations roles.
 Conflicting messaging from the business, in that it is building an exciting vision for the future yet neglecting the dire consequences of its current actions towards those facing redundancy at Christmas time and whilst working through a dreadful pandemic with all the uncertainty that this brings.
 The failure of RMG to respond to our request for them to suspend the application of the pernicious 64.5-year age Taper mechanism. Which reduces VR payments for anyone over the age of 64.5 we believe that this could be discriminatory and is unnecessary in the greater scheme of things and is “Penny pinching”.
 This is not an inexhaustive list, but hopefully it will provide you with a glimpse into the business proposals / propositions themselves.
Conclusion
In our opinion the current proposals / propositions not only have a significant impact on our members, but on the ability of the company to perform. Although our overriding commitment is to our members, their jobs and welfare, we believe as a responsible Trade Union we have a duty to protect the sustainability of the company and only support proposals that are viable and workable. This one is most definitely NOT.
We will be contacting you in the next week or two to seek your views through a Consultation exercise.
Thank you all for your continued support.
Mike Eatwell National Unite Officer CMA 5th November 2020
Please contact your local Unite CMA representative if you require any further information.
Your Union working hard on your behalf

ELECTION OF NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE POSITIONS – 2020

• CWU Young Workers Committee

Further to LTB 481/20 dated 30^th September 2020, at the close of nominations the following have been received:

CWU YOUNG WORKERS COMMITTEE – POSTAL CONSTITUENCYEASTERN REGIONBallot RequiredAdam AucoteEastern No 3Reece ScaneSouth Central PostalMIDLAND REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedNORTH EAST REGIONAlex WhitehouseNewcastle Amal*ELECTEDNORTHERN IRELAND REGIONRyan FergusonNorthern Ireland Combined*ELECTEDNORTH WEST REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedSCOTLAND REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedSOUTH EAST  REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedSOUTH WEST REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedWALES REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedLONDON REGIONNo Nominations Received

CWU YOUNG WORKERS COMMITTEE – TELECOM & FINANCIAL SERVICES CONSTITUENCYEASTERN REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedMIDLAND REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedNORTH EAST REGIONQuincy RaymondTyne & Wear Clerical*ELECTEDNORTHERN IRELAND REGIONFiona CurtisNorthern Ireland Telecom*ELECTEDNORTH WEST REGIONErin BrettMersey*ELECTEDSCOTLAND REGIONCarolyn JohnstonScotland No 1*ELECTEDSOUTH EAST  REGIONConnor McCannMeridian*ELECTEDSOUTH WEST REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedWALES REGIONIeuan DaviesSouth Wales*ELECTEDLONDON REGIONWilliam MurrayGreater London Combined*ELECTED

The ballot timetable is as follows:

Despatch ballot papers:               7 November 2020

Ballot closes:                                  28 November 2020

Branches should note that ballot papers and biographical information will be emailed to the Branch email address and these papers will need to be printed off, signed accordingly and emailed back to elections@cwu.org by the closing date.

Any enquiries regarding this Letter to Branches should be addressed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary Department on telephone number 020 8971 7237 or email address sdgs@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 525/20

Communication Workers Union
Dave Joyce National Health & Safety Officer
150 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London SW19 1RX
Tel: 020 8971 7365/7308 E-Mail: djoyce@cwu.org

Our Reference: E1/DJ/lmp

5 November 2020

To All ASRs

Dear Colleagues,

Re: RMG – Introduction of ‘Mandatory’ Face Masks From Monday 9 November:

This is just a quick update as Royal Mail have jumped the gun and have issued a
communication which you will all no doubt hear about today which follows a national
management briefing held by Shaun Davis Director SHE and Rachel Boon RMG Head
of Health yesterday.

Discussions on this subject have been taking place over the last two weeks and last
Friday Royal Mail Group informed the CWU of their intention, requesting CWU support
which was considered on Monday.

CWU/HQ is supporting the initiative having considered the current Covid-19 situation
across the UK and we agreed on joint communications. However a Royal Mail
communication was produced and issued at 6pm last night ahead of the agreed joint
comms for which a strong complaint has been made.

Never the less, from next Monday ‘Mandatory Masks’ are being introduced by RMG
for all indoor work.

The CWU is supporting this decision, subject to ongoing discussions, for a number of
very important reasons;

v The Virus infection rate continues to rise,
v The high daily number of new cases being recorded,
v Hospital admissions and death numbers increasing,
v A huge 125% increase in workplace outbreaks (TUC),
v 33,000 Christmas Casuals/Agency Workers about to join the RM/PFWW workforce,
v Local and Regional restrictions being imposed across large parts of the country,
v A second national lockdown starts this week,
v The risk of a flu pandemic alongside the Virus,
v The number of weekly coronavirus deaths is at its highest figure since early June,
a 46 per cent increase on the previous week,
v The number of patients admitted to hospital has jumped by more than 60 per cent
in 10 days,
v Hospitals Patients needing a ventilator has also increased by nearly 51 per cent,
v A third of UK workers are worried about catching coronavirus in their workplace.

I have stressed to RMG that the ‘Mandatory Masks’ measure is not an end in itself and
does not replace other preventative, risk control measures and must be seen as one of
the steps to safer working and a ‘Covid-19 Secure workplace’.

Mandatory Masks is one important component to a five-pronged, fully committed drive
that’s now needed with both RMG and CWU on board: –
Ø Improving Hygiene,
Ø Face Coverings,
Ø Social Distancing(2M),
Ø Improved Cleaning (premises and vehicles),
I also want to add
Ø ‘Workforce Testing’ (Weekly).

The Masks are not a substitute for Social Distancing(2M), Increased/Improved Cleaning,
Improved Hygiene standards.

I’m keen to get a workplace weekly testing regime implemented and have formally put
Forward a proposal to Royal Mail Group to consider the introduction of Workplace
Weekly Covid-19 testing which I think would improve safety, reduce transmissions
and infection rate plus give a huge reassurance to the workforce at this tough time as
the nation enters lockdown 2.

A number of associated issues have been raised by us for further discussion and those
talks will take place over the next couple of days. These items include;

v Masks per person not to be limited and to be changed frequently,
v Masks not compulsory whilst working outside,
v Visors to be provided,
v CWU ASRs and Managers and SHE Team to work together spot checking/
inspecting Social Distancing compliance and Covid-Secure compliance,
v Mask Wearing Compliance process to match the RMG/CWU PPE National
Agreement 3-step process,
v A robust ‘exceptions process’ – This includes (but is not limited to): staff with
underlying medical conditions, asthma, COPD etc, those with physical or
mental illness or impairment, or disability, those who by wearing a mask
would cause severe distress,
v Exemption cards to be produced,
v Exception for staff when seated to eat or drink in staff mess rooms, rest rooms,
restaurants or cafes. Putting the face covering back on once finished eating or
drinking,
v clear guidance on the type and suitability of particular face coverings,
v Facilities for Mask disposal
v Arrangements for those who rely on lip reading, clear sound or facial expressions
to communicate

I will keep you all updated.

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce | National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
Member TUC Union Health and Safety Specialists Committee
Email djoyce@cwu.org | Direct line 020 8971 7365
Communication Workers Union, The communications union
Headquarters 150 The Broadway | Wimbledon | SW19 1RX
T 020 8971 7200 | F 02089717300 | http://www.cwu.org | @CWUNews

Campaign to Save ULF (England) – Template Letter

You will recall LTBs 492/20 and 505/20. Also, further to our recent CWU Live session relating to
this issue, we would be grateful if Regions and Branches could make a coordinated effort to bring
the attached template letters to the attention of ULR networks and individual learners.

The template letters are self-explanatory and once completed can be emailed directly to those
people identified within it.

It would be extremely useful for members and representatives to be encouraged to send a copy of
their letters back to Branches, Regions and directly to learn@cwu.org for collation to enable us to
gauge responses.

It has to be acknowledged that the CWU response to the proposed attack on this funding has been
magnificent and noted by the TUC and wider trade union movement. Indeed, the increase in the
petition signatures culminating from our CWU Live session was noticeable. We are very grateful to
all our activists for this.

It is crucial that we continue to lobby MPs regarding this issue and we trust that Regions and
Branches will assist in this latest campaigning initiative.

Any enquiries relating to this LTB can be forwarded to equality&education@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Kate Hudson
Head of Equality, Education & Development

LTB 528/20 – Campaign to Save ULF (England) – Template Letter

Template letter to MP – Generic

Template letter to MP from Learners

POST OFFICE: CHRISTMAS OPENING HOURS – JOINT STATEMENT

Further to LTB 514/20 dated 26th October, the following Joint Statement regarding Crown Office opening hours for Christmas and New Year has been published:

JOINT STATEMENT POST OFFICE, CWU AND UNITE
Opening hours for Christmas 2020

We have now confirmed the opening hours for the DMB network for this Christmas and wanted to take this opportunity to communicate this and some other related matters jointly.

Opening HoursDateOpening timeThursday 24th December4pm Closing time25th through to 28th DecemberClosed29th -30th DecemberNormal opening timesThursday 31st December4pm Closing timeFriday 1st JanuaryClosedSaturday 2nd JanuaryNormal opening times apart from ScotlandMonday 4th JanuaryNormal opening times apart from Scotland

Work Time Learning Sessions

To help maintain customer service during the Christmas period, sales meetings on Mondays and WTLL sessions on Tuesdays will be cancelled from 7 December until the New Year. This will allow you to open at 8.30am, but you should still hold a session to brief your team incorporating key Teamtalk messages and prepare your branch for trading.

The only possible exceptions are Tue 8th December for branches in Northern Ireland and Tue 15th December for England, Wales and Scotland branches when December’s Trading Period end accounts need to be completed.

Christmas Eve

• With the primary aim to ensure good customer service, resourcing on Christmas Eve will be organised on the basis of minimal staffing levels. Consequently, Branch Managers will have full discretion to determine a reduced level of colleague attendance. We agree to work on the key principal of having no more colleagues in branch than the manager believes necessary to service our customers on the day whilst taking account of the necessary security required including keys.
• Work will take place at a local level to match colleague attendance to the optimum cover required using opportunities to pay back hours owed and set duty patterns requiring a minimal number of colleagues to work after 12:30.
• Managers will work locally with colleagues to determine who will work in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, utilising as a first priority volunteers where that is possible. Where there are insufficient volunteers, it will be the responsibility of Branch Managers to ensure that colleagues are assigned to duties accordingly to meet the customer requirements up to 16:00.

It is undoubtedly likely to be a busier than normal Christmas period with increased postings of packets and parcels. Thank you for all your efforts during this challenging time, your hard work and commitment to providing excellent customer service is very much appreciated.Steve Blampied

Head of Directly Managed Branch NetworkPhil Savage

Unite the UnionAndy Furey

CWU Assistant Secretary

Branches and Representatives are urged to bring this LTB and associated Joint Statement to the attention of our members working in Crown Offices. Reps are encouraged to engage with Area Managers to ensure Christmas Eve arrangements described in the Joint Statement are applied in all Crowns. If difficulties are encountered these should be escalated.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary

LTB 527/20 – Post Office – Christmas Opening Hours – Joint Statement

Handheld Body Temperature Scanners For Pandemic Fever Detection and Screening

CWU/HQ continues to receive enquiries and requests for information regarding the provision of ‘Temperature Scanners’. We have also been made aware of proposals discussed locally regarding the acquisition of this equipment in order that it can be provided for use in various Mail Centres, Delivery Offices, RDCs, Hubs and Depots during the current pandemic where there are current Coronavirus/Covid-19 outbreaks/clusters of cases amongst the workforce and especially in light of the high level of agency workers (33,000) being taken on by Royal Mail over the Christmas peak pressure period.

With the current Coronavirus/Covid-19 second wave, regional restrictions and the imminent national lockdown, the concerns to find aids and solutions to the problem are obviously understandable.

As you may suspect, the issue of ‘Temperature Scanners’ has been subject to discussion previously with Royal Mail Group, following similar requests from a number of large offices.

The current position and policy of the Royal Mail Group Central HQ Safety, Health & Environment Team and Occupational Health Team is not to introduce the use of temperature scanners and the CWU supports that position.

The question of RMG employees having temperature checks is featured in the RMG Coronavirus Q&A document which is regularly updated and is circulated additionally via CWU Letters to Branches.

RMG state that they continue to follow the Government/Public Health/DHSC/NHS guidelines and temperature checks have not been mandated or recommended by Government or their official agencies.

If the situation regarding Royal Mail Group changes following a review, Branches will be notified.

The Health, Safety & Environment Department has additionally examined all available information and considered a number of reports from Government as well as medical and scientific sources on the effectiveness of the technology itself which I summarise below.

The companies marketing this equipment claim not surprisingly that their ‘body temperature scanning systems’ provide an effective method and tool in the battle to further prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus among workers and the wider public.

It’s also worth adding that a number of airports decided to trial or deploy ‘Thermal Scanners’ as a solution to help them identify passengers who may have Coronavirus/Covid-19 by detecting people with an elevated temperature as they walk through the airport.

This may be reassuring to people, however, it’s not supported by science or UK Government advice to the airline industry. Nevertheless, a number of airports and airlines use  this equipment despite science making it clear that thermal screening for temperatures is not effective at diagnosing infections.

The most recent UK Government guidance for airlines and airports found that “there is no scientific support for the thermal temperature scanner technology as an effective method to screen people for Coronavirus.”

Multiple scientific studies have found thermal scanners or cameras are ineffective at preventing the spread of Covid-19 and other infections. Experts have concluded that “Temperature is a bad proxy for having the disease and the measuring scanner devices is not very accurate.”

A study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) concluded that thermal scanning at airports detects less than 1 in 5 passengers, arriving on flights, who are infected with the Coronavirus/Covid-19 virus.

A review by the US Communicable Disease Centre, for example, found 268,000 passenger checks at selected US airports led to the discovery of only 14 positive Covid-19 cases.

A study be epidemiologists found that because of the incubation period of Covid-19, thermal scanners were “unlikely to prevent passage of infected travellers into new countries or regions where they may seed local transmission”.

According to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), between 1% and 20% of passengers with a fever will be missed by thermal screening equipment, and between 1% and 25% of passengers could be wrongly reported as having a temperature when they are all clear.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control are advising airports and airlines that thermal screening of passengers has many limitations and that there is little evidence of its effectiveness in detecting Covid-19 cases.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that “temperature screening alone may not be very effective”.

The Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases nCoV Working Group found that thermal scanning at airports was of a limited value for preventing the spread of Covid-19.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said in a technical report for public health authorities in May 2020 that thermal screening is a “high-cost, low-efficiency measure that has many limitations and little evidence of effectiveness in detecting Covid-19 cases”.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s medical advisory group found that temperature screening would miss many of those with early-stage Covid-19 illness, those who are infected but have no symptoms, or have taken medication such as paracetamol to lower their temperature.

This information is being published for the information and assistance of Branches and Reps who may be considering lending their support to the call for introducing the equipment.

Clearly, the CWU needs to be sure that any equipment brought in to use at Royal Mail offices really works and isn’t just there to give the workforce a false sense of security and be nothing other than ‘cosmetic’.

We have expressed our concerns about the increased risk of Covid-19 transmission brought about by an over-reliance of the business on large numbers of casual/agency staff and is something the business needs to think very carefully about in relation to how they maintain ‘Covid Secure’ workplaces when these workers, who the business has no knowledge or background history of, enter the workplace.

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

LTB 526/20 – Handheld Body Temperature Scanners For Pandemic Fever Detection and Screening