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The announcement comes as Royal Mail says it expects to post a £350m loss for the full-year, though the company warned this could reach as much as £450m if customers move volume away for longer periods as a result of strike action.

Several strikes have taken place in recent months, with the next round of industrial action due this week on October 20th, then again next week on October 25th.

According to the BBC, Royal Mail’s chief executive Simon Thompson says: “This is a very sad day. I regret that we are announcing these job losses. We will do all we can to avoid compulsory redundancies and support everyone affected.”

“Each strike day weakens our financial situation. The Communication Workers Union’s (CWU) decision to choose damaging strike action over resolution regrettably increases the risk of further headcount reductions.”

CWU general secretary Dave Ward hit out at the claims, saying the announcement “is the result of gross mismanagement and a failed business agenda of ending daily deliveries, a wholesale levelling-down of the terms, pay and conditions of postal workers, and turning Royal Mail into a gig economy style parcel courier”.

He adds: “This announcement is holding postal workers to ransom for taking legal industrial action against a business approach that is not in the interests of workers, customers or the future of Royal Mail. This is no way to build a company.”