You will recall that the conditions governing the buy out of mark time were agreed as per the Transformation through Partnership in an Post Agreement in July 2000. The administration of this applied, as intended in subsequent change agreements at the DMC, SDS and Post Offices.

However, during the discussions relating to Collection and Delivery the Company sought to
abolish Mark Time by applying a compulsory buy out for all of the remaining staff comprehended by the scheme. This view was supported initially by the Technical Group and the Labour Court when their recommendations were issued in July 2005. In November 2005, the Union, with the assistance of the National Implementation Body referred this issue back to the Labour Court
seeking to have the scheme continue in accordance with the TTPA. Consequently, the Labour Court issued the following elaboration: 

The current arrangement should continue for a further three years after which its
continued operation should be reviewed. Should the parties disagree on future
 arrangements at that time the matter should be referred back to the Court for final
adjudication.

In July 2006 the Company informed the Union of its intentions for administering the scheme for staff in Collection and Delivery whose pensionable pay increases are paid on a phased basis.
Because the Union was unable to accept the Company’s position the matter was referred to the Monitoring Group for assistance. The attached appendix outlines in detail as to how the scheme will operate for staff in Collection and Delivery comprehended by the different stages of payment but in summary the following will apply:

The buy out will apply as per the TTPA
The Mark Time Scheme will continue to operate for a further 3 years
Buy out based on mark time payments made up to 13th January 2006
Mark Time payments will be reduced by the phased introduction of the Change Allowance
Staff have the option of retaining the difference between their mark time payments prior to the 16th January 2006 and the pensionable element of the ChangE   Allowance
Overpayments will be deducted from lump sums