Service suffers targets issues for second year running but Royal Mail heralds ‘encouraging results’
Ofcom has opened an investigation into Royal Mail’s failure to meet its delivery targets for 2023-24 after the company revealed of its results on Friday afternoon, 24 May.
The industry watchdog immediately announced the move after the delivery giant said it had missed the first-class letter service target by almost 20%, and was 6% under on second-class mail across the whole financial year, excluding the Christmas period.
As the designated universal service provider, Royal Mail is legally obliged to deliver 93% of first-class mail within one working day – it only managed 74.5% – and for second class its target is 98.5% delivered within three working days but it only reached 92.4%.
The Ofcom statement said: “In deciding whether the company is in breach of its obligations, we will consider if there were any exceptional events – beyond the company’s control – that may have explained why it missed its targets.”
Royal Mail has improved its performance slightly following the £5.6million fine imposed by the watchdog in November for failing to meet the 2022-23 targets where it managed 73.7% and 90.7% of deliveries on time respectively, which were adjusted to 82% and 95.5% when Ofcom took into account the impact of the long-running industrial action which ended in July 2023, extreme weather and the Stansted runway closure.
The watchdog will consider what steps RM has taken to improve its performance since the previous investigation, any impact these measures have had on the quality of service, and what Royal Mail has done to “improve its control, visibility and oversight” of delivery offices.
In its Royal Mail Full Year Quality Of Service 2023-24 release on Friday, the company boasted “more than 91%” of first-class mail arrived within two days, and that between Q2 and Q4 “first-class quality of service increased by 3.9% and second-class quality of service increased by 2.3%”.
Calling this a “positive trajectory”, the statement said it is continuing into the current financial year where first-class performance in April “has been higher than at any period in the last year”, citing actions such as increased recruitment, new sickness and attendance policies, and a quality control centre that manages disruption and focuses on improving speed and reliability in affected areas, as contributing to the “encouraging results to date”.
Alistair Cochrane, who joined Royal Mail as chief operating officer in January this year, said: “Improving the reliability of our service is one of our top priorities. Throughout this year, we have implemented a series of changes to drive improvements, and this has led to some encouraging results.
“However, we acknowledge more must be done, and we will continue to work hard to deliver the standard of service our customers expect.”
Ignoring the original plans submitted to Ofcom where Royal Mail wanted to have the uso changed to lose Saturday letter deliveries altogether, Alistair added: “In April, we submitted our proposed reforms on the universal service. This proposal is designed to protect what matters most to customers including maintaining the six-day service. This reform, combined with our efforts, will help create a modern, sustainable service for future generations.”
On behalf of the greeting card industry, the GCA is keeping up the pressure with its campaign to ensure the country has a reliable and affordable postal service.
