Cumbrian MPs pile pressure on Royal Mail over letter delays

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https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk ... er-delays/

Two South Cumbrian MPs have piled pressure on Royal Mail over the ‘appalling state of affairs’ that have left Cumbrians missing hospital appointments because of letter delivery delays.

Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, and Michelle Scrogham, MP for Barrow and Furness, have united in their critique of the company after the Gazette revealed that residents had missed key appointments and bills because of letters being delivered weeks late.

One Kendal resident, Sarah Ross, whose children have additional needs, reported how she had missed their appointments because the appointment letters had not arrived in time.

Mr Farron said: “It’s an appalling state of affairs that people are missing hospital appointments and people are being penalised for paying bills late because of huge delays in letter deliveries.

“Our hard-working posties are being stretched to the limit and desperately need more support.

“I recently met with senior management from Royal Mail to challenge them over these issues.

“Staffing shortages is a significant problem here which is why they are trying to recruit more posties. But they will struggle to do so unless they offer full-time hours.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson acknowledged short-term pressures sometimes caused delays and said they are recruiting more staff locally and investing £500m nationally over five years to improve reliability.

The company’s latest figures show 84.8 per cent of First-Class letters are delivered the next working day in the LA postcode, below the 93 per cent target set by postal regulator Ofcom.

Mr Farron added: “I will keep working to try and fix these problems.”

Ms Scrogham said the state of Royal Mail’s service locally is one of the most regularly raised issues on the doorstep and that “residents deserve a postal service they can rely on”.

She said: “This is a problem created by Royal Mail bosses, not by their hard working and dedicated posties and sorting staff.

“I've contacted Royal Mail leadership time and again about the terrible service in our area. I’ve met with them, shared the experiences of residents, suggested possible solutions, and requested improvement plans.

“I met them again this week and asked them once more to explain how they will restore reliable deliveries, improve staffing in Barrow and Furness, meet service standards, and ensure vital mail arrives on time. I was not convinced by their answers.

Ofcom, the postal regulator, launched an investigation into Royal Mail earlier this year after it missed annual delivery targets yet again.

Last October, Ofcom fined Royal Mail £21m for missing annual delivery targets, the third-biggest financial penalty it has ever issued to any company.

Royal Mail has not hit its Ofcom-mandated delivery target for first-class post since 2017, or for second-class mail since 2020.

Ms Scrogham added: “Fines have not worked after three consecutive years of penalties and a fourth investigation now underway. But nothing seems to change. The service is still not good enough.

“That’s why I recently joined with several MPs to write to Ofcom to say that they now need to act to force Royal Mail to admit the problem and fix it. All options need to be on the table including the threat of bigger fines, and a review of their royal charter.”

The Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský completed a £3.6bn purchase of Royal Mail’s owner, International Distribution Services, last year.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We know how important it is that customers receive their mail when expected, particularly important items such as hospital appointments.

“Mail continues to be delivered across Kendal every day, although individual routes can occasionally be affected by short-term pressures. When this happens, our teams work to deliver any outstanding mail as quickly as possible.

“We are also recruiting for a number of roles at Kendal Delivery Office to further strengthen the local team.”

On top of the £500m investment nationally, they said they were also rolling out a new delivery model across all of their 1,200 delivery offices.