The pay formula, as agreed by KCOM and Prospect, can be found on the KCOM intranet.

The annual pay increase is linked to the KCOM Group's performance against its budgeted internal EBITDA target as well as being linked to the cost of living via the rate of inflation. The measure of inflation used is the annualised underlying Retail Price Index (RPI-X).

As is standard within the formula, KCOM also will apply to each employee:

• the variables of the external salary benchmarking through the Towers Watson
Survey (formally Towers Perrin);

• the employee's own annual performance management score.

4.5% is the pay award for employees who score 3 (fully acceptable performance) and who are within the market rate for their role.

Employees who have had an annual performance management score of 1 (which indicates serious underperformance) will not get a pay award which is in line with Group policy. However, members who have received this score should speak to the Union as soon as it becomes known.

Prospect are pleased that the pay award this year reflects the hard work that members have delivered for the company, despite a year of further redundancies and restructuring.

If you are interested in becoming more active in Prospect we would welcome your involvement. Prospect provides high quality training to its representatives and we would particularly welcome new representatives from Hull and Wakefield. There are a variety of roles for Prospect representatives, from branch officers to case-handlers or even just acting as points of contact. Please do take an active interest in your Union - don't just leave your terms and conditions for others to deal with.