Due to Royal Mail staff shortages, millions of people went without mail last week. » Brinkwire

Last week, millions of people were left without mail due to Royal Mail staff shortages.

Last week, a large number of Royal Mail offices failed to make regular deliveries, leaving millions without mail.

A total of 77 offices were impacted, though by the weekend, that number had dropped to 56.

Some sites had a third of their staff missing.

Royal Mail’s contract with the government stipulates that it must be able to deliver letters to every address six days a week.

However, it is reported that many households are awaiting important documents.

These documents include hospital appointment letters and driver’s licenses, as well as criminal background checks for nurses, teachers, and childminders who are starting new jobs.

On December 12, one father mailed three government-issued PCR Covid tests to his family to a priority postbox in south-east London; he had yet to receive the results as of last night.

“We never failed before the pandemic,” said Rob Hayhurst of the CWU postal workers union.

Failure is not something that posties are accustomed to.

We are now missing deliveries on a daily basis.

“In sorting offices, they’re seeing bags and bags of mail piling up.”

Hospital appointments, debit cards, bank statements, and legal documents are all supposed to be delivered, but they never do.

Many places, especially on the South Coast, only get their mail twice or three times a week.”

Postal workers used to deliver twice a day before being reduced to once a day in 2004.

Royal Mail was fined £1.5 million by the communications regulator Ofcom in 2020 for failing to deliver at least 93 percent of first-class mail within one working day of collection.

In the 2018-2019 fiscal year, only 91.5 percent of the packages arrived on time.

In March 2019, Royal Mail was fined £100,000 for overcharging customers for second-class stamps over a seven-day period.

From March 25, it overcharged customers by charging 61p for the slower service, overcharging them for a week until the cap was raised from 60p on April 1.

A first-class stamp now costs 85p, up 9p from January 1.

Second-class postage rose by 1 pence to 66 pence, just ten months after the previous price increase.