Warrington MP urges stronger action over Royal Mail delays

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https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... il-delays/

A WARRINGTON MP has called for a stronger response to failings by Royal Mail to deliver post on time.

Warrington North MP Charlotte Nichols has joined fellow politicians in branding the mail company’s responses to issues being raised as ‘completely unacceptable’.

Many Warrington residents have reported receiving no post at all for days, as well as receiving a large backlog when it does arrive.

It comes after Royal Mail missed its targets once again, delivering 85 per cent of first-class post the next day and 91.4 per cent of second-class mail within three working days during the first quarter of the year.

Under targets set by Ofcom, 90 per cent of first-class mail should be delivered the next day, and 95 per cent of second-class mail should be delivered within three days.

From April 1, the watchdog lowered previous delivery targets for first-class from 93 per cent and second-class from 98.5 per cent as part of universal service reforms.

But Royal Mail insisted that it had seen a marked improvement from a year earlier, when first quarter figures showed just 76 per cent of first-class and 89.3 per cent of second-class post arrived on time.

Ofcom launched an investigation in June into Royal Mail’s failure to meet its delivery targets for the second year running in the 12 months to the end of March.

It was fined a record £21million by Ofcom in October last year for missing targets in 2024-25.

While the regulator lowered Royal Mail’s targets in April, it added a new “enforceable” backstop delivery target, so that 99 per cent of mail has to be delivered no more than two days late.

Royal Mail said it also missed this backstop, but closed the gap, with 98.1 per cent of first-class post delivered within three days and 98.4% of second-class within five days.

On the issues reported by residents, Ms Nichols said: “I have heard from many of you about frustration with the ongoing Royal Mail delays locally.

“These issues are not the fault of our hardworking local posties; however, the problem is much bigger than that.

“That is why I recently joined colleagues from across the House of Commons in writing to the Secretary of State and Ofcom, calling for Royal Mail to be held to account and for action to improve the service people rely on.

“If you have experienced any issues recently, I want to hear from you, so we can feed these issues back and get services back to normal.”

To give feedback, email charlotte.nichols.mp@parliament.uk or complete a survey at charlottenicholsmp.com/survey/royalmailsurvey

The MP signed letters sent to the chief executive of Ofcom and Jonathan Reynolds MP, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.

The letters state: “We are writing to you to share our frustration about our ongoing correspondence and meetings with Royal Mail regarding postal delays in our areas.

“Royal Mail has been repeatedly failing to meet its obligations under both the old and renegotiated Universal Service Obligation.

“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 received 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, and what practical solutions would help hard-working staff 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 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.”

The MPs said that they are concerned that the steps Ofcom has taken with regard to Royal Mail have not been sufficient.

“The fact that the company has been fined millions of pounds in each of the past three financial years for failing to meet its targets, and that it is under investigation for failing again in a fourth consecutive year, shows that fines alone are not enough,” they added.

“While we hope that Universal Service Obligation reforms will help, Royal Mail's attitude to our repeatedly raised concerns suggests that the regulator must take a stronger hand in ensuring that they take these issues seriously.”

On Royal Mail’s latest delivery statistics, chief operating officer Jamie Stephenson said: “These results are encouraging and show that the work we are doing to improve the service is having an impact.

“First-class performance is well ahead of where we expected to be at this stage of our improvement plan, while second-class is tracking in line with the plan.”

However, he acknowledged that the company ‘knows that there is more to do’.