Important information on staff returning from furlough

The Government’s Furlough scheme ends on 31 October and, as a result, you may have staff returning from furlough in the coming days.

The NFSP has sought clarification from Post Office Ltd on some key issues to help you prepare for the return of staff from furlough.

Smart ID.

Any Smart ID that has had no Branch Hub or Horizon activity for 90 days will have been deactivated. You can call the Branch Support Centre on 0333 345 5567 to reactivate any applicable Smart ID. Quote ‘return from furlough’ when speaking to an advisor – BSC will know this is a valid scenario for immediate reactivation.

The NFSP advises you to do this ASAP, rather than waiting until next week as there may be high call volumes to the Branch Support Centre then.

P250.

Staff whose Smart IDs have been deactivated will not need to go through the P250 vetting process again.

Compliance tests.

Be aware that staff returning to work will need to complete any training they missed during their period of furlough before they can access Horizon and any regulated products.

The most critical training that may have been missed is:

• Anti-Money Laundering
• Information Security & Data Protection
• Prohibited & Restricted Goods

The Mails Compliance test is still live (deadline of 3 November) and will need to be completed too.

Once relevant tests have been passed, staff will need to logout and then log back into Horizon. They will then be able to access Horizon transactions again.