LTB 256/26 – THE FUTURE OF ROYAL MAIL
No. 256/26
28th September 2026
To: All Branches
Dear Colleagues,
THE FUTURE OF ROYAL MAIL
In considering the major and wide-ranging challenges facing our members and the company, the CWU has placed a motion before the Labour Party Conference 2026 that calls on the Government to urgently intervene and set out a fundamentally different direction and vision for the future of Royal Mail.
The motion recognises that Royal Mail is a vital public service, rooted in every community across the UK, that today faces existential threats to its future including:
- The undercutting of postal workers’ jobs and the company through multinational competitors that utilise bogus self-employment.
- The devaluing of postal workers’ jobs. While postal workers recognise the need for change, the company’s failure to end two-tier terms and conditions is creating a recruitment and retention crisis leading to understaffing and unmanageable workloads.
- A failure of the previous and current leadership board of Royal Mail to address quality of service problems that are damaging the brand, letting down customers and demoralising postal workers.
- A regulator that is acting against the interests of the universal service and in favour of promoting unfair competition.
- The lack of vision from the leadership of the company to develop a new growth strategy that offers a future for Royal Mail and our members jobs in permanently changed world of communications.
A full copy of the motion is attached and the key demands are as follows:
- Fully implement the Select Committee’s report recommendations of the Business and Trade Select Committee’s May 2026 report.
- Create a level playing field by introducing a single status of worker and sectoral collective bargaining, ending the race to the bottom based on bogus self-employment, insecure work and low pay.
- Establish a new regulatory framework that puts universal service, investment, quality of service and sector-wide employment standards ahead of competition, and reviews downstream access arrangements.
- Build on the Government’s golden share by developing a new ownership and governance model for Royal Mail, with democratic public control and oversight and worker and customer representation, supporting investment, diversification, growth and public value.
- Bring Royal Mail and the Post Office back together, creating a stronger national network delivering postal, banking, government and community services.
In the coming weeks, the union will be focusing on developing a major campaign to engage our members, representatives, the public and politicians to achieve the objectives of our motion with the Government setting out a new vision and direction for the company that will secure the future of Royal Mail and our members’ jobs. In the meantime, we are setting out immediate next steps as follows:
- We will be holding a national briefing in the next few weeks to set out the approach we will be taking and the role we would like branches and members to play.
- There will be a series of communications to fully explain to our members the seriousness of the challenges we are facing and the solutions we want to put in place.
- Please ensure that the content of this LTB is circulated to all members in every workplace.
Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to the General Secretary’s office dlynch@cwu.org.
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward
General Secretary
Martin Walsh
Deputy General Secretary (Postal)
Rebuilding Royal Mail for Workers and the Public
Conference notes that in September 2026 the Government stated concerns over Royal Mail’s quality of service, while Ofcom’s investigation into its 2025/26 delivery performance continues.
Conference notes the Business and Trade Select Committee’s May 2026 report, The regulation of postal services, which found that Royal Mail’s service is unacceptable, Ofcom is failing as postal regulator, and reform of the Universal Service Obligation is essential.
Conference believes Royal Mail is a vital public service facing existential challenges, requiring a new vision that secures its future in the interests of customers, communities and workers, while utilising its national infrastructure and trusted workforce to create social and economic value for the UK.
Conference calls on the Government to:
- Fully implement the Select Committee’s report recommendations of the Business and Trade Select Committee’s May 2026 report.
- Create a level playing field by introducing a single status of worker and sectoral collective bargaining, ending the race to the bottom based on bogus self-employment, insecure work and low pay.
- Establish a new regulatory framework that puts universal service, investment, quality of service and sector-wide employment standards ahead of competition, and reviews downstream access arrangements.
- Build on the Government’s golden share by developing a new ownership and governance model for Royal Mail, with democratic public control and oversight and worker and customer representation, supporting investment, diversification, growth and public value.
- Bring Royal Mail and the Post Office back together, creating a stronger national network delivering postal, banking, government and community services.
