Royal Mail postal workers 'told by higher-ups to fake deliveries so bosses could keep their bonuses'

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... eries.html

Royal Mail postal workers are being told by higher-ups to 'fake deliveries' so their bosses can hold onto bonuses, it is claimed.

Lower-rung employees allege they have been ordered to record parcel deliveries as 'inaccessible' even if they were never attempted.

This would risk a number of parcels not coming in time for Christmas - with packages that contain other important items also failing to arrive

The allegations were made after several postal workers came forward, with some saying they had been asked 'three or four times' in the past month to comply.

The workers claimed that was a 'culture of greed' in the higher ranks of the firm, with bosses eager to make the most of bonuses that can total up to £5,000-a-year.

Postal minister Justin Madders said he was 'disturbed' by the allegations and called for an investigation into the claims.

Royal Mail insisted the claims were 'nonsense' when contacted by MailOnline.

The accusations were made by postal workers who spoke anonymously to The Telegraph.

One told the publication: 'I can’t honestly say I’d know what would happen if I refused to do it, as I never have.

'Obviously, it probably is unethical to do something like that, as it is dishonest – and the customer is expecting their parcel. I don’t feel comfortable doing it. There is a culture of greed from the managers, and they just care about their bonuses.'

Another added the rural area for which he is responsible had '30 to 40 parcels' that there was not time to deliver at the end of the day with workers being told to scan these as 'inaccessible'.

This would then send a customer a message to say that the delivery was attempted and another attempt was going to be made the following day.

The worker described this as 'a lie'.

It comes as some customers have reported receiving said 'inaccessible' emails despite not hearing a knock at the door, the Telegraph reports.

A postman based in Scotland added: 'Morale is on the floor, there’s a high level of turnover for staff and there’s not enough people to cover overtime.

'The managers will ask [postal workers] to take it all out as they need to report what’s left in the building.'

He said colleagues were often pushed into emptying their 'frame' - in other words, all the post assigned to them on shift.

Customer operations managers are the employees alleged to be benefiting from the practice - receiving their their mid-year bonus understood to be partly based on hitting targets for the number of parcels that leave Royal Mail depots.

A person in the position could receive a salary ranging from £44,500 to £49,000 and a '10 per cent on-target bonus', according to job adverts.

What this means is a manager in the role could receive just under £5,000-a-year if they met all targets while postmen would receive just £200 in two £100 bonus payments.

Kevin Hollinrake, a former Post Office minister, said: 'It’s disgraceful. If that’s something that is required by management, even localised management, that’s totally unacceptable. This is something that will once again damage Royal Mail’s reputation. In recent years, it’s failed year after year.'

Ian Smith, 67, who lives in County Durham, said he missed a number of cancer treatment appointments three years ago because Royal Mail took more than two weeks to deliver letters about them.

Mr Smith is now waiting for a limited edition music album that his postman 'hasn’t seen' but has received notification for attempted delivery.

The claims come as Royal Mail has also had its reputation blighted by various other controversies in recent times.

For example, the worst Christmas postal chaos 'in decades' saw the organisation hit with a record £10million fine for missing delivery targets.

Some staff blamed this on managers ordering them to ship lucrative 'premium products' at the expense of important letters.

Royal Mail previously denied that this was policy but admitted this month they do so 'at exceptionally busy periods'. A spokesman claimed this was because packages 'take up far more space than letters' but insiders say it is because of lucrative contracts.

And it was announced just two days ago that Royal Mail would scrap Saturdaymadders second-class post for nearly a million households next year.

Currently Royal Mail must deliver letters six days a week to all 32million addresses in the UK under the Universal Service Obligation. But the postal service has been lobbying for change for four years, saying the commitment costs up to £2million a day.

Letter volumes have fallen from a peak of 20billion a year in 2004/5 to just 6.7billion annually, it said.

Justin Madders, minister for postal services, said on the recent 'fake delivery' claims: 'I am disturbed by these reports, and we urge the business to investigate and address these issues. We also hope that Ofcom, the regulatory body, will be looking into this matter.'

An Ofcom spokesman said: 'We’ve been clear that Royal Mail must improve its performance. Following engagement with Ofcom, the company published an update on its improvement plans in May this year, and we’ll be holding it to account for delivering a better service.'

A Royal Mail spokesman said: 'We are not experiencing any current network-wide delays this Christmas. Last year more than 99 per cent of items posted before the last posting dates arrived before Christmas, and we are well prepared to deliver this again this year.

'There is no bonus incentive which would encourage items to not be delivered, this would be counterintuitive to our business as a delivery company.

'A property is only identified as ‘inaccessible’ if we cannot access the building, it is unsafe to deliver, or adverse weather prevents delivery – as has been the case with recent bad weather in some of the areas listed in this report.'

This comes as the spokesman also described the claims as 'nonsense' and 'without any evidence' adding that 'our purpose is to deliver, there would be no incentive for not delivering'.

The company has confirmed bonuses at Royal Mail are based on a 'broad range of metrics' which include delivery performance - in other words, deliveries being completed.