Royal Mail has insisted it needs to “urgently” roll out changes that will see second-class post scrapped on Saturdays, after the group missed postal targets once again.
In October, the group was fined £21 million by regulator Ofcom, after missing its 2024/2025 financial year delivery targets, the third year in a row the company received multi-million-pound fines.
The latest data for the period between September 29 and November 30 said 91.6% of second-class mail was delivered within three working days, while 77.5% of first-class post was delivered the next working day.
Royal Mail said these numbers are an improvement on the previous period, but admits they're still falling short of Ofcom's targets, which are for 93% of first-class post to be delivered the next day and 98.5% of second-class to be delivered within three days.
Royal Mail chief executive Alistair Cochrane said: “While these results show improvements for both first and second-class mail, we recognise that our performance in letters is still not good enough.
“Unfortunately, under the current delivery model, there is no viable way to significantly and sustainably improve quality of service for customers.
“The answer is to urgently implement Universal Service reform, which is why we have now entered an intense period of discussions with the CWU to finally reach an agreement on these changes.”
Universal service reform will see second-class letter delivery on Saturdays scrapped, and new targets introduced for first and second-class deliveries. First-class post will continue to be delivered six days a week.
Ofcom gave Royal Mail the green light to make these changes in July last year, and the group launched the changes across 35 delivery offices as a pilot.
The changes haven't been implemented nationwide, as an agreement has not yet been made with the Communications Workers Union (CWU), despite intensive talks kicking off at the start of February.
Royal Mail said the pilots “show the model is working, with increased efficiency and improved service levels, including over Christmas when volumes doubled”.
“Given strong evidence from the pilots conducted that USO reform will result in significant and sustained improvements in quality of service for customers, Royal Mail sees no alternative to its urgent deployment across the network,” it added.
The CWU claims that the pilots have not been as successful as stated, arguing that "only 47 targets out of 175 have been achieved in all the pilot locations".
The union also claims that feedback from members at the pilot offices illustrates a delivery plan that "is not working apart from reduced frequency of Saturday attendances."
The figures come as Royal Mail has been asked to respond to a group of MPs who raised concerns about “chaos” in the postal service since Christmas and suggestions that some letters are being delivered in “batches”.
The company was, earlier this week, given two weeks to respond to a series of questions put to it by the Business and Trade Committee (BTC).
It follows the postal firm issuing a notice about potential service delays across 38 of its delivery offices this week, covering around 100 UK postcodes, as a result of local issues like a higher-than-usual number of staff off sick, as well as stormy weather.
Citizens Advice hit out at Royal Mail’s “woeful performance”.
Anne Pardoe, head of policy at Citizens Advice, said: “Things risk getting worse when cuts to delivery days come into full effect.
“With second-class delivery opportunities set to be halved, it’s concerning that people aren’t even getting their post on time now.
“Late deliveries are not a minor inconvenience. They mean missed medical appointments, delayed benefit decisions, unpaid bills and fines.
“Any future stamp price rises must be contingent on Royal Mail meeting its delivery targets.”