Royal Mail Demands Union Agreement on Saturday Post Cuts After Missing Delivery Targets
Royal Mail has insisted it must urgently implement reforms that would see second-class post scrapped on Saturdays, as the company revealed it has once again failed to meet its delivery targets. The postal group reported that during the third quarter, covering September 29 to November 30, only 77.5% of first-class mail was delivered the next working day, while 91.6% of second-class mail These figures, though marking an improvement from the previous quarter, still fall significantly short of the targets set by regulator Ofcom. The regulatory body requires 93% of first-class post to be delivered the next day and 98.5% of second-class mail to arrive within three days. It is important to note that Ofcom does not apply these delivery targets during December due to the exceptionally high demand experienced over the Christmas season. Royal Mail chief executive Alistair Cochrane acknowledged the shortcomings, stating: "While these results show improvements for both first- and second-class mail, we recognise that our performance in letters is still not good enough. Unfortunately, under the current delivery model, there is no viable way to significantly and sustainably improve quality of service for customers." Cochrane emphasised that the solution lies in the immediate implementation of Universal Service reform, which is why Royal Mail has now entered an intense period of discussions with the Communications Workers Union (CWU) to finally reach an agreement on these critical changes. The proposed reforms, which received Ofcom's approval last year, would allow Royal Mail to: Royal Mail has already launched second-class letter changes across 35 delivery offices as a pilot scheme, with the company claiming these trials demonstrate the model is working effectively. According to Royal Mail, the pilots have shown increased efficiency and improved service levels, even during the challenging Christmas period when postal volumes typically double. However, the company has been unable to expand these reforms nationwide across all 1,200 delivery sites due to its failure to reach an agreement with the union. Intensive talks with the CWU began at the start of February after previous negotiations broke down regarding how to roll out changes to the universal service obligation (USO) across the entire network. The latest performance figures emerge as Royal Mail faces scrutiny from Parliament. The company has been given two weeks to respond to a series of questions from the Business and Trade Committee (BTC) after MPs raised concerns about what they described as "chaos" in the postal service since Christmas. Particular concerns were raised about suggestions that some letters are being delivered in "batches" rather than through regular daily deliveries. Additionally, Royal Mail issued notices this week about potential service delays across 38 of its delivery offices, affecting approximately 100 UK postcodes. The company attributed these delays to local issues including a higher than usual number of staff off sick and disruption caused by stormy weather conditions. Royal Mail maintains that given the strong evidence from pilot schemes showing that USO reform will result in significant and sustained improvements in service quality for customers, the company sees no alternative to its urgent deployment across the entire network. The postal service insists that without these reforms, it cannot viably improve its delivery performance to meet regulatory standards and customer expectations.Performance Falls Short of Regulatory Standards
Urgent Calls for Universal Service Reform
Pilot Schemes Show Promise but Union Resistance Remains
MPs Raise Concerns Over Postal Service "Chaos"
