Post ‘left for days’ as buyer vows six-day Royal Mail service despite job cuts

Letters are still being left at Royal Mail delivery offices “for days” during low season, postal workers have warned.

It comes as the potential Royal Mail buyer, Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, vowed to maintain the requirement to deliver first class letters six days a week “as long as I’m alive” despite planned voluntary redundancies of up to 1,000.

Postal workers told i that deliveries are likely to “take longer” under Royal Mail reforms as they would still need to fulfil the universal service obligation (USO) for first class letters, but with fewer staff members.

Royal Mail said that under the reforms, second class letters would be delivered every other weekday, saving £300m and leading to “fewer than 1,000” voluntary redundancies.

Posties in the southwest of England have said that tracked parcels are still being prioritised over letters despite the USO, which currently requires Royal Mail to deliver letters six days a week across the country.

Photos seen by i appear to show letters left in frames at the end of a working day during the low season.

A company spokesperson said it always does its “utmost to ensure both letters and parcels are delivered on time” and that 95 per cent of first class mail arrives within two days.

It comes as EP Group, a company run by Mr Křetínský, is preparing to buy Royal Mail after the companies struck a £3.6bn deal. Shareholders and the Government will decide whether the deal should go ahead in the coming months.

EP Group has committed to the USO and supports the reforms set out by Royal Mail in April which include giving customers a choice of first class and second class services, with first class letters still delivered six days a week and parcels up to seven days a week.

The company said letter volumes have dropped from 20bn billion to 6.7bn a year meaning “maintaining the Universal Service in its current form is unsustainable”.

But postal workers have expressed fears that the reforms proposed by Royal Mail are unlikely to improve the situation.

A source working at a delivery office in Cornwall told i: “For my office alone, we’re running out of vans because they keep breaking down or people have accidents. So going down to less than six days, and losing staff would be it would cripple Royal Mail.

“At the minute, we’ve got rounds in the office where letters have been sat there for three days. Because people are going out doing two rounds but they’re just doing parcels.”

They added that deliveries would “take longer” under the reforms, with posties told to “prioritise parcels and leave letters”.

A postal worker based in a different part of the southwest of England said the voluntary redundancies would cause “the service to deteriorate further”.

“First and second class items – which tend to be the letters and A4 flats – are failing,” they told i. “All over the country it’s exactly the same – deliveries are still failing on a daily basis.”

They added that we are currently in “low season” meaning work is means to be lighter, with posties working fewer hours, but “we’ve not got enough hours in the day to do what we’re supposed to be doing”.

However, a postal worker in Edinburgh said the service is “working well” and decreasing second class deliveries would help protect the first class letter service, while also “softening the blow” for posties.

But expressed fears over looming job losses, saying: “Although the six-day letter USO is going to get protected, certain elements of diluting the USO will of course have its impact on jobs.”

The strained Royal Mail service has already seen its level of one-day first class deliveries fall to 74.5 per cent, well below a target of 93 per cent.

Last year, Ofcom fined Royal Mail £5.6m after it failed to meet the delivery targets in 2022-23. It was also fined £1.5m for missing targets in 2018-19. It also missed delivery targets during the pandemic but the regulator chose not to fine it.

Meanwhile, Royal Mail lost a record number of letters and parcels in the last year, with nearly 900,000 complaints made about the issue.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We will always do our utmost to ensure both letters and parcels are delivered on time.

“In every month this year we have seen improvements in our quality of service. Currently, 95 per cent of first class mail is arriving within two days, up from 91 per cent at full year.”

They added: “Letter volumes have dropped from 20bn to 6.7bn a year meaning maintaining the Universal Service in its current form is unsustainable.

“The changes we’ve proposed are good for our customers, good for our people and would allow Royal Mail to invest in products and services that the UK wants.”