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Some 13,000 employees were off sick or self-isolating last week, which is double the normal level for this time of year
Royal Mail is struggling to deliver letters and parcels because thousands of its staff are off sick or self-isolating due to COVID-19 exposure.
Some 15,000 postal service workers – one in seven – were absent in the first week of January, the Daily Telegraph reported. It said 13,000 Royal Mail employees were still off last week, which is double the normal level for this time of year.
At some sorting offices, a third of staff are absent.
Deliveries are subject to long delays, with some neighbourhoods claiming not to have received any letters for a fortnight, as the company juggles absences, demand for coronavirus tests and Christmas gift returns.
More than 1.5 million coronavirus test samples were posted for analysis in the week to 5 January, the Telegraph said, citing official figures.
Royal Mail is responsible for delivering the tests under a government contract worth up to £790mln, and sorting offices are being forced to prioritise test samples and packages at the expense of letters.
At one stage, 77 areas were not receiving post regularly, although the figure has now dropped to 14, according to Royal Mail.
“We are providing targeted support to the local offices affected by these issues and we apologise to customers for any inconvenience they may have experienced,” a spokesman told the Telegraph.
The company, which has 1,200 sorting offices, said it is operating as normal across most of the country.
In an effort to tackle the backlog, it has employed temporary workers and offered staff more overtime. In some areas, it has temporarily cut the frequency of deliveries.
The delays mean the company is at risk of breaching the “universal service obligation”, a legal duty to ensure deliveries within a certain time.
If average delivery times are found to be below standard, Royal Mail could face a fine from media regulator Ofcom.
The company was previously fined £1.5mln for failing to meet targets in 2018/19.
A spokesman for Ofcom said officials are closely monitoring the company’s performance.
“We have made it clear to the company that it must improve as the impacts of the pandemic subside,” he told the Telegraph.
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