Ofcom launches investigation into Royal Mail over late deliveries

Royal Mail will be investigated by the communications regulator after it failed to meet its delivery targets and could face a heavy fine.

The delivery firm has been beset by strikes in recent months and has fallen short of its 2022-2023 targets.

Some 73.7% of first-class mail was delivered within one working day across the year. The target was 93%.

For second class mail, 90.7% was delivered within three working days, compared with the target of 98.5%.

And 89.35% of delivery routes were completed on the required day, well behind the 99.9% target.

Ofcom said it takes the quality of service very seriously and could fine Royal Mail if it cannot reasonably explain why it missed the targets.

The pandemic can no longer be used as an excuse for poor delivery performance, Ofcom said.

The probe follows last week’s news that boss Simon Thompson will step down by the end of the year.

His departure was announced weeks after a lengthy dispute with the main postal union came to an end.

Grant McPherson, chief operating officer of Royal Mail, said: "Improving quality of service is our top priority.

"We are committed to accelerating Royal Mail’s transformation and restoring service levels to where our customers expect them to be.

"We’re sorry to any customers who may have been impacted by our performance during a year that has been one of the most challenging in our history.

"With the plans we have in place to drive service levels and reduce absence, we hope and expect to see further progress in the coming months."

Royal Mail also stressed that its service improved over the first three months of the year, where 94.5% of second class mail was delivered within three working days and 78.9% of first class mail delivered within one.

Furthermore, 18 days of strike action organised by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) “materially impacted” the quality of service, it argued.

It also blamed a high level of staff absences affecting operational performance.

But the CWU recently hit back at Royal Mail for blaming poor service performance on industrial action.

Jason Llewelyn, CWU North East Central branch secretary, said in February that Royal Mail’s “failure to recruit” is at the heart of the matter, as well as the priority given to tracked mail over non-tracked.

He said: “When you have a choice between delivering parcels that you can track and things you don’t track, it’s to the benefit of management, because that’s how they get their bonus, to make sure the tracked items are delivered."

“Compounding that is the fact that they’ve not recruited and, due to industrial action, brought agency people in.”

Last month, Royal Mail agreed a deal with the CWU which would see staff get a 10% salary increase and a £500 one-off payment.

The firm said it hopes the agreement will reduce absences, spread out workloads, and rapidly improve quality of service.

The proposed deal will be put to a ballot of union members in the coming weeks.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know