Royal Mail owner to be grilled by MPs over delivery performance

The Czech Billionaire who took over the parent company of the postal service last year is expected to face questions about the company’s failure to meet performance targets.

The Business and Trade Committee has called on Royal Mail owner Daniel Kretinsky to present evidence to MPs in response to “significant concerns” raised around the service’s performance.​

Kretinsky is chairman of International Distribution Services, Royal Mail’s parent company. He was summoned along with Royal Mail’s acting CEO, Alistair Cochrane.

Liam Byrne, the Commons committee chairman, wrote to the executives to “raise significant concerns about the quality of postal service being provided by Royal Mail”.

This came after the BBC reported allegations that parcels are being prioritised over letters, leading to mail delivery delays, causing people to miss appointments and crucial documents such as school certificates and bank statements.

Regulator’s concern over performance

International Distribution Services took over Royal Mail in a deal worth £3.6bn in April 2025. After his company’s shareholders approved the deal, Kretinsky said he would put “employees and customers” at the heart of everything IDS does.

However, the change of ownership has not yet addressed the regulator’s concerns about performance.

Ofcom has taken issue with Royal Mail’s failure to meet targets for letters, issuing three multimillion-pound fines on the company, including a £21 million fine in October 2025, following two others in 2024 and 2023, respectively, and demanding a “credible improvement plan.”

Since then, the issue of Royal Mail’s service has become prominent in Parliament, with MPs from across party lines raising concerns and calling for stronger scrutiny.

Royal Mail ‘should be embarrassed’

In response to an MP’s point of order regarding Royal Mail letter delays, Commons’ speaker Lindsay Hoyle said Royal Mail “should be embarrassed” by its failure to meet targets.

Other issues, such as postal ballots for the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections, were raised, and MPs called on Ofcom to clamp down harder on its perceived failure to meet targets.

A spokesman for the Royal Mail said that attending the committee’s hearing “will give us the opportunity to discuss the work we are doing to transform Royal Mail and the urgent need to implement changes to the universal service to deliver the services our customers want and ensure we are financially sustainable for the long term”.

Royal Mail bosses had previously faced the committee in 2023, which concluded that the Royal Mail was “systematically” failing its obligations and prioritising letters over packages, a claim which the CEO at the time, Simon Thompson, initially denied, and later admitted took place during periods of industrial action and recovery.