According to the NFRN, the broadsheet publisher has confirmed that all rates will go up by 7.64 per cent to reflect the recent increases in the national minimum wage and the introduction of the living wage.
The new rates will be backdated to April 1 2016 and will run until March 31 2017.
NFRN Chief Executive Paul Baxter said: “We are pleased that the Telegraph has accepted our representations and has agreed to increase the rates paid to qualifying retailers for handling third party advertising inserts.
“When the Living Wage came in earlier this year it brought with it more than a 10 per cent burden in salary payments overnight at a time when independent retailers’ businesses were not witnessing such increases in sales. In an effort to reduce their payroll costs, we know that some members have been forced to cut their employees’ working hours or even jobs, which means they are having to work longer themselves and are not paying themselves the national minimum wage.
“While the NFRN can understand why newspaper publishers are so keen to accept these advertising inserts, there has to be recognition in return of the additional costs these can incur, either from the need to employ more resource or to reward news deliverers for the extra time it takes to complete their rounds.
“Over recent years newspaper publishers have failed to adhere to the original agreement that, as a minimum, the payment scheme would be index linked against any increases in the national minimum wage. What HND retailers would welcome now is some further festive cheer with those same publishers taking a leaf from the Telegraph and following suit.”
