Complaints about Royal Mail treated with 'complete disdain'

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https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/26580 ... e-disdain/

Complaints about Royal Mail are treated by regulators and leaders with 'complete disdain', an open letter signed by an Oxford MP has said.

Labour MP for Oxford East Anneliese Dodds added her name to letters sent to communications regulator Ofcom and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Jonathan Reynolds MP to demand improvements to post delays.

The letter set out the ways in which the postal service has been 'repeatedly failing to meet its obligations' under both the old and new Universal Service Obligation, the targets of which were softened in a renegotiation in July 2025.

Now, the company is expected to deliver 90 per cent of First Class mail by the next day, down from 93 per cent under the previous terms, as well as 95 per cent of Second Class mail within three working days, down from 98.5 per cent.

Stroud MP Simon Opher says improvements are being made to postal services after visiting staff in Dursley last week
Royal Mail (Image: Other)

But the service is not consistently reaching those targets, the MPs' letter claims, with less than 76 per cent of First Class mail and just over 90 per cent of Second Class being delivered in the target time frame in the last financial year.

The letter said they understand the purpose of the renegotiated targets was to make them 'realistic' and 'achieve a better service overall', and welcomed the service's ambition to improve the delivery rates within measurable timeframes.

Signed by 34 MPs from across the UK, the letter added: "However, we are seriously concerned that Royal Mail's refusal to admit that it is not performing at an appropriate standard now will hinder its ability to improve - and that Ofcom does not have strong enough powers to incentivise progress.

"Our inboxes are full of messages from constituents experiencing marked postal delays, often with serious consequences, from missed medical appointments to fines for delayed payment - all because the mail they needed was not recieved until days or weeks after it should have arrived.

"Postal workers in our areas tell us about the problems at local delivery offices - they know what is going wrong, an what practical solutions would help hard-working staff to get the job done.

"Yet Royal Mail's senior leadership tells us time and again that there are no problems in our areas.

"Their responses follow such a clear pattern that they seem to show complete disdain for the concerns of residents.

"This is completely unacceptable. Telling us night that night is day will not fix the problem.

"Acknowledging what is wrong and engaging seriously on the detailed, local solutions that must sit alongside Universal Service Obligation reform, is the first step towards a solution."

It added that the millions of pounds in fines from Ofcom levied in recent years are 'not enough' to improve the service's performance.

Royal Mail has been approached for comment.