In October 2020 we consulted on a number of commercial and operational improvement opportunities for the Access Letters Contract. You can also access the full consultation document here.

On 31 August 2021 we issued our decision document following consideration of Wholesale customers' feedback which you can find here.

We are now  pleased to issue the revised ALC terms which will become effective from 16 June 2022. The attached customer letter and change notice provides full details. 

 

I would like to thank those customers who provided valuable feedback as part of our review. We have carried out an extensive review of the existing ALC terms, including the Access User Guide, with a view to consolidating and restructuring the terms and simplifying them overall.  We have also simplified the language and transferred all process and specification points from the optional schedule to the Access User Guide. As a result, both the ALC and the Access User Guide will be nearly half the size compared to the existing terms.

 

Additionally, the revised terms reflect the decisions pertaining to notice periods; limitation of claim periods; amendments to the assignment clause; introduction of a sanctions clause; labelling requirements; standardisations of segregation by format; and standardisation of early release, as communicated to you in the decision document and our subsequent letter of 26 October 2021.

 

Change notice number 087 gives effect to the amendments and we also provide links below to the following key documents:

 

1. The amended ALC;
2. The amended Access User Guide;
3. A summary document outlining the key changes we have made to the ALC including a comparison of the amendments to key clauses; and
4. A colour coded version of the existing ALC which indicates the amendments we have made, plus commentary on where certain provisions have been relocated to and those which we have removed; and
5. A colour coded version of the existing User Guide which indicates the amendments we have made, including provisions that have been relocated and those which have been removed.

Over the next few weeks, we will be working on digitalising the User Guide so that, in addition to the PDF format, it is also accessible in the web browser format as it currently is, making the document easier to navigate.

 

We would like to thank you once more for taking the opportunity to help shape the ALC and our commercial offering moving forward, so that Access continues to play an important role in the postal industry, and in the sustainability of the universal service.