Royal Mail's latest performance report reveals a significant shortfall in its delivery targets, with only 75.7% of first-class letters delivered on time in the year leading up to March. This figure falls considerably short of the company's 93% target. The report details the postal service's operations under its new owner, Daniel Kretinsky's EP Group, which secured shareholder approval for its takeover in late April of the previous year.
In the same reporting period, 90.2% of second-class letters were delivered within the stipulated three working days, missing the 98.5% target. This marks the sixth consecutive year that Royal Mail has failed to meet its annual letter delivery objectives, a performance decline that has persisted since the Covid-19 pandemic.
In response to these ongoing delivery failures, the regulator Ofcom imposed a £21 million fine on Royal Mail in October of last year. This penalty represented the third-largest fine ever issued by the communications watchdog. The persistent issues have drawn criticism from both the public and politicians regarding the slowness of letter delivery.
Earlier this year, in February, postal workers told the BBC that some letters had been left undelivered for weeks. These workers reported being instructed to prioritize parcel deliveries due to their higher profitability. Consequently, Royal Mail executives were summoned before a parliamentary select committee in March to address these claims.
During the committee meeting, Daniel Kretinsky told MPs that he was "deeply sorry for any letter that arrives late." Addressing the allegations of parcel prioritization, he said: "I have never heard any instruction or discussion, and have not participated in any exchange, that would sanction that Royal Mail is prioritising parcels over letters."
Reacting to the latest performance figures, Citizens Advice policy director Tom MacInnes said poor performance at Royal Mail was "business as usual." He added that Royal Mail claims people will have to wait another year until it can meet its new, lower delivery targets.
To address these operational challenges, Royal Mail has implemented an improvement plan. This plan includes offering part-time postal workers the opportunity to work extended hours. Furthermore, an agreement has been reached with Ofcom to discontinue second-class deliveries on Saturdays as part of the revised operational model. Royal Mail said its service was improving and that it was on track to hit new reduced targets of 90% for first-class delivery and 95% for second-class delivery by this time next year. Chief operating officer Jamie Stephenson said: "We're putting significant investment into improving reliability and reaching these new delivery targets, but delivering lasting change across a network of this scale takes time."
