Revision 2019

Summary

A request was made for detailed mail counts, scanned items, and staff working hours following the 2019 postal revision. The Isle of Man Post Office partially exempted the response, withholding personal staff data and commercial mail volume statistics.

Key Facts

• The request was received on 2020-06-01 and the outcome was issued on 2020-06-18.
• Information regarding staff scan-in/scan-out records and duty scans was withheld as personal data.
• Mail count data (letters, flats, packets, parcels) was withheld to protect commercial interests.
• The authority cited Section 25(b)(i) & (ii) for absolute exemption of personal information.
• The authority cited Section 30 for qualified exemption regarding commercial prejudice.

Data Disclosed

• 2020-06-01
• 2020-06-18
• 1312809
• 1313109
• 2019
• October 2019
• Section 25
• Section 30
• Article 5
• Article 6

Exemptions Cited

• Section 25(b)(i) & (ii) - Absolutely exempt personal information
• Section 30 - Commercial interests

Original Request

The information is to try and understand the changes and compare duties. Part 1 - A copy of all mail counts (letters, flats, packets and parcels) for the revision held in 2019, to include walks, rurals and parcel duties. (All island) Part 2 - A copy of items scanned per duty (specials, recorded, Int. registered, tracked), since the revision in October 2019. Part 3 - Number of hours worked per duty per week for both 5 day and 6 day duties since the revision in October 2019. This can be easily obtained from our scan in and scan out requirement, not to included overtime hours! Clarification from supplementary FOI request (1313109) Part 3 - This can be easily obtained from our scan in and scan out requirement and duty scanners, not to include overtime hours covering staff shortages (taking out mail for a second duty)! Part 4 - Hours worked on Saturday's since the revision in October 2019, permanent duties only not overtime or casual staff.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Postal Headquarters Spring Valley Industrial Estate Douglas Isle of Man, 1M2 IAA

Switchboard: +44 (0)1624 698400 Telephone: +44 (0)1624 698599 Email: foi@iompost.com Web: www.iompost.com

Our ref: 1312809 18 June 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 1 June 2020 and which states:

"The information is to try and understand the changes and compare duties.
Part 1 - A copy of all mail counts (letters, flats, packets and parcels) for the revision held in 2019, to include walks, rurals and parcel duties. (All island)

Part 2 - A copy of items scanned per duty (specials, recorded, Int. registered, tracked), since the revision in October 2019.

Part 3 - Number of hours worked per duty per week for both 5 day and 6 day duties since the revision in October 2019. This can be easily obtained from our scan in and scan out requirement, not to included overtime hours!

Clarification from supplementary FOI request (1313109) Part 3 - This can be easily obtained from our scan in and scan out requirement and duty scanners, not to include overtime hours covering staff shortages (taking out mail for a second duty)!

Part 4 - Hours worked on Saturday's since the revision in October 2019, permanent duties only not overtime or casual staff."

Our response to your request is as follows:
s25(b)(i) & (ii) - While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because it is absolutely exempt under section 25 of the Act (absolutely exempt personal information). The reasons why that exemption applies are that:  Isle of Man Post Office (IOMPO) is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and  IOMPO is satisfied that disclosure of the information would contravene one of the data protection principles as set out at Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation as it applies in the Isle of Man pursuant to the Data Protection (Application of GDPR) Order 2018, namely that IOMPO can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions for lawful processing in Article 6 and in this case, none of those conditions have been met.

The exemption relates to the scanned records of staff in/out of premises and of duty scans (mail/parcels) as it contains personal information.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information is exempt from disclosure under section 30 of the Act as disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of IOMPO.

As section 30 is a qualified exemption, it is subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large. In taking these factors into account the IOMPO determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information.

The qualified exemption relates to the provision of mail counts (letters, flats, packets and parcels) as publishing this information into the public domain would provide our competitors with commercial volumes, which would be detrimental to IOMPO commercial and public service.

Please quote the reference number 1312809 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review
If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi. I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely

FOI Co-ordinator

Revision 2019 Information

The information is to try and understand the changes and compare duties.

Part 1 - A copy of all mail counts (letters, flats, packets and parcels) for the revision held in 2019, to include walks, rurals and parcel duties. (All island)

IOMPO operates in a hugely competitive market with regards to the delivery of items (letters, flats, packets and parcels) putting volume information in the public domain would provide information to our competitors that could be detrimental to IOMPO and information that they themselves would not be required to make public. However, in order to assist in answering your questions, we have provided the delivery call percentages that IOMPO used as part of the revised duty calculations for the 2019 Revision. These figures below were indicative in the planning stage.

All Island Weekly Actual Average Adjusted Weekly Average Weekly Actual Median Adjusted Weekly Median Douglas Walks 69.5% 73.5% 70.8% 74.9% Douglas Rurals 65.3% 69.1% 65.2% 68.9% South 57.1% 64.2% 56.5% 63.6% North 59.1% 66.4% 59.3% 66.6% Peel 55.7% 62.6% 56.3% 63.3% Average 61.3% 67.2% 59.3% 66.6%

Part 2 - A copy of items scanned per duty (specials, recorded, Int. registered, tracked), since the revision in October 2019.

The scanned records are recorded against the name of the identity card holder rather than duty number, therefore after seeking advice from the IOMPO Data Protection Officer this information cannot be released.
Whilst we cannot release the figures that you requested we can say that in 2019/20 posted special delivery items dropped by 8.6% from the previous year and were forecast (pre-COVID) to drop by a further 5% this financial year. Likewise, received special delivery items dropped 7.1% from the previous year in 2019/20 and we forecast a further 5% reduction (pre-COVID) for the 2020/21 financial year.

Part 3 - Number of hours worked per duty per week for both 5 day and 6 day duties since the revision in October 2019. This can be easily obtained from our scan in and scan out requirement, not to included overtime hours!

Clarification from supplementary FOI request (1313109) Part 3 - Number of hours worked per duty per week for both 5 day and 6 day duties since the revision in October 2019. This can be easily obtained from our scan in and scan out requirement and duty scanners, not to include overtime hours covering staff shortages (taking out mail for a second duty)!

All duties both pre and post the 2019 Revision are based on a 35 hour net working week, 40 hours gross pay.
For staff that cover a 6 day week duty, their actual hours increase to a 42 net working week with 5 hours paid meal breaks, with every sixth week off, the equivalent of a 5 day week duty.

The scan in/out records are recorded against the name of the identity card holder rather than duty number, therefore after seeking advice from the IOMPO Data Protection Officer this information cannot be released.

Part 4 - Hours worked on Saturday's since the revision in October 2019, permanent duties only not overtime or casual staff.

IOMPO has 33 duties due to work on Saturday from its main sites of Douglas, Northern, Peel and Southern Delivery Offices as well as rural locations. All of these hours are included within the contractual hours of postal staff, as explained in our response to part 3 above. These 33 duties cover 215 hours of working on a Saturday.