Following the Post Office scandal which has been widely reported in recent months, the company has now announced a £30m (US$37.7m) remuneration improvement package for the 2024/2025 financial year.
The improvements include:
- A one-off remuneration boost, equal to 15% of postmaster’s March 2024 trading, in variable remuneration. This will be paid in April 2024. Across the network, this equates to a nearly £5m (US$6.3m) investment by Post Office.
- An increase in Mails remuneration worth around £12m (US$15.1m) as a result of Royal Mail tariff increases and remuneration increases for Royal Mail volume-based products such as pre-paid parcels and returns which will go up by 4.0% in line with CPI.
- A 21% increase in remuneration for postmasters handling DVLA transactions.
- An average increase of 9.4% on outreach payments to postmasters who operate mobile vans as outreach Post Offices in consideration of the national living wage increase and changes in fuel prices.
- In addition, Post Office has announced a complementary £3.5m (US$4.4m) investment to roll out high-grade note counters for 2,800 of its largest banking branches. This will help automate the accurate processing of cash deposits.
Nick Read, chief executive of the Post Office, said, “Postmasters are not immune to the current challenging economic environment, and we are acutely aware of the impact minimum wage increases have on their costs. Following a strong performance for our online business, and thanks to postmasters’ help in building the brand and delivering fantastic customer service, we have again been able to share this success with postmasters in the form of a one-off payment.”
Operational excellence incentive
The Post Office has also announced it will be recognizing the efforts of its postmasters in back-office activities such as cash processing and accounting through its Operational Excellence Incentive.
The incentive, which builds on the doubling of the remuneration rate for banking deposits in August 2022 and a further increase of 20% in April 2023, will pay postmasters for the time already spent on back-office activities. By carrying out the existing operational requirements for running a branch, postmasters will have the opportunity to boost total variable remuneration by up to 5% each month. These payments will be based on meeting the requirements for daily cash declarations, cash pouch remittances, cash holdings and monthly trading period accounting.
Post Office has developed the scheme in collaboration with the postmaster non-executive directors, postmaster regional forums, postmaster experience director Mark Eldridge, and the NFSP to ensure the scheme works for postmasters.
The first remuneration payment for the incentive will be made on September 30, 2024. This will be based on activity in the August trading period. Post Office will be sharing with postmasters more information, training and support guides on the incentive over the coming months.