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Cost cutting: Royal Mail’s owner IDS is calling on Ofcom to speed up a review and allow it to ‘urgently’ bring in sweeping changes
The boss of Royal Mail’s owner has slammed ministers and regulators over their failure to reform the postal service.
International Distributions Services (IDS) chief executive Martin Seidenberg urged Ofcom to speed up a review and allow it to ‘urgently’ bring in sweeping changes. IDS, at present, is fighting back against a takeover offer from billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who co-owns West Ham United.
In a presentation to investors, Seidenberg said: ‘We have been calling for reform for more than four years and the lack of action by government and Ofcom has held back Royal Mail’s transformation.’
Current rules mean the postal service must deliver letters nationwide for the same price, six days a week, costing up to £675million a year.
Royal Mail wants to cut second-class deliveries to every other weekday to reduce costs, saying delays to reform have held the company back.
But IDS still needs the Government and Ofcom to accept its proposals. Seidenberg said: ‘We call on Ofcom to accelerate their review and start consulting on changes.’
