Legal
We provide legal information rather than advise on the particular merits of a case. For cases that require legal representation, this is not paid for by Royal Mail Group. However, outside the HELP scheme if you wish to contract with our legal supplier (called Pannone) they can act on your behalf but this is at your cost. Pannone would only take on cases where they are more likely than not to succeed.

HELP provides a legal information line which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can provide guidance and support over the telephone on any legal/consumer issue. These legal services are only available to employees of RMG who are experiencing stress.

The topic areas covered include the following:

• Children Marital and relationship
• Contract Motoring
• Criminal Neighbours
• Education Personal affairs
• Employment Personal injuries
• General Information Personal insolvency
• General Tort Property
• Immigration Research/recall
• Insurance Wills and succession
• Landlord and Tenant Tax
• Litigation

Personal injury – representation:

HELP will put you through to our legal services line provided by Pannone. If you decide that you would like Pannone to take up your personal injury cases that is a matter between you and Pannone – i.e. it is not paid for by Royal Mail Group

• Cases will only be taken on where the value of the injury claim in more than £1,000.
• For successful personal injury claims the claimant will receive 100 per cent of their damages, and the legal firm will obtain their fees from the other side.

Employment cases - representation:

Employment representation is not covered by the HELP scheme although general information regarding employment issues is covered.

Our legal provider can give representation if you contract directly with them. Note that discounted hourly rates or fixed fees where appropriate, are available if representation is required.

Claims which arise within England , Wales , Scotland and Northern Ireland are included in the scheme. Claims which arise outside of those jurisdictions (usually Personal Injury claims which occur abroad) are at the discretion of the legal firm

Counselling
Counselling can be a positive experience although for many it can be daunting when first seeking support. Our telephone advisors will carry out a careful assessment of your needs and match you with a fully qualified and experienced counsellor. Telephone counselling can be helpful as it is quicker to set-up since travelling is not required by you and some people prefer the anonymity it gives. Face-to-face sessions can be arranged near to where you live or work. Up to four sessions are provided, although in some cases, extra sessions can be authorised where clinically required.

• Face-to-face counselling services are available from 9am to 9pm (depending on the location)
• Counselling is for those aged 16 and above. Where family counselling is required the employee needs to be actively participating with the therapy (i.e. it is not possible for family members to receive counselling if the employee of RMG is not present in terms of instigating the therapy and attending the sessions)
• If you have a counsellor allocated to you, but feel that it is not going as well as you expected, do talk to us and we can discuss alternative options.

Data Protection Act
Personal information is held on you completely in confidence and you have a right to this under the Data Protection Act. If you would like a copy of this please contact HELP and ask for a Subject Access Request Form. We will not give any information out on you to third parties unless ordered to do so by a Court or with your signed, written consent

Confidentiality
HELP is an independent and unbiased service that observes the very highest standards of confidentiality. Confidentiality would only be compromised in the most exceptional circumstances, such as:

• where you may harm yourself or others
• you are allegedly involved in a serious crime
• where there is a legal requirement, e.g. prevention of terrorism or protection of children.

Wherever possible we will always seek to discuss direct with you any concern before taking any such action. HELP works to the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy code of ethics. It you would like to clarify any of this please do contact HELP and ask to speak to a Clinical Lead.

Waiver for all services
HELP in the course of providing a service, may offer you practical suggestions. These are offered in good faith and are not intended to be directive. HELP may also put you in touch with other organisations, which could be helpful to you. In doing so we do not offer a recommendation or endorsement of such organisations. There are some providers who we do recommend (e.g. our legal provider) and we will always make this clear to you at the time of referral.

Resident family members included
All services are available to your immediate family with the exception of legal/financial services and face-to-face counselling for those under 16 years of age. Immediate family means those members of your family who live with you, i.e. spouse/partner, children etc.

Your comments
We routinely carry out surveys to measure your satisfaction with our services in order to further improve them. This is optional and if you do not wish to participate it will not alter the high quality of service we provide. Please note that no identifiable information is ever passed to Royal Mail Group. If you are not asked to complete a survey we would still be delighted to hear from you with any of your comments, both positive and negative.

Please write to us:

HELP Employee Assistance, Freepost NATW98.
Bristol BS32 4BR.

Please note – when contacting HELP by mobile phone, your standard network rate will apply.