People are ‘missing urgent medical appointments’ because it takes so long for their post to be delivered

Stockport residents have complained that they are “missing urgent medical appointments” because of postal delays, according to the leader of the council.

Councillor Mark Hunter told a full council meeting on October 4 that a number of residents have written to councillors about delays to the post, with some areas getting just one or two deliveries per week.

The Stockport Lib Dem leader has now asked Ofcom to investigate the problem after previous assurances from Royal Mail that the service would improve came to nothing.

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Councillor Hunter said: “We’ve had an increasing number of complaints made to councillors from residents in this borough about poor postal delivery services. We certainly don’t attach any responsibility to individual postmen and women who do such a good job in such difficult circumstances. But the fact remains that the service locally in many parts of Stockport is deteriorating.

“People are getting one or at most two deliveries per week, and it’s not just the irritation and inconvenience, the serious point about this is that people are missing urgent medical appointments which in some cases they have waited many months to obtain in the first place.”

Ofcom announced it was investigating Royal Mail’s performance in May this year after its postal service fell short of its delivery targets.

In the 2022/23 period Royal Mail delivered 73.7 per cent of first class mail within one working day compared to its target of 93pc. For second class mail, 90.7pc was delivered within three working days against the target of 98.5pc.

An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We know how frustrating and disruptive it can be when your post is delayed. We assess Royal Mail’s performance every year against annual delivery targets, and we are currently investigating its failure to meet its targets for 2022/23.

“We take quality of service very seriously, and if we determine that Royal Mail has failed to comply with its obligations, we may consider whether to impose a financial penalty.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We are committed to restoring our quality of service to our customers. We have plans in place and dedicated teams responsible for improving deliveries in Stockport and throughout our delivery offices nationwide.

“Over the last six weeks we have recruited around 3,000 postmen and women and are continuing to recruit c.500 permanent positions a week in delivery. To support the physical and mental health of our employees and assist them in their return to work, we have introduced a wellbeing programme which provides colleagues with free, confidential, and independent healthcare support, including unlimited 24/7 access to an online GP.

“In the lead up to Christmas, we are taking on 16,000 temporary workers, more vehicles and additional parcel sorting sites to handle double the normal volume of parcels we expect over the period.

“These actions plus others are already making a difference in some areas and we are confident that they will continue to improve quality of service for our customers.”