Royal Mail delivering post less than once a week, say furious households

Royal Mail is delivering post less than once a week in some towns and cities across Britain, it has emerged.

Hospital appointment letters, birthday cards, parcels and important bills have all gone missing in delays caused by a staffing crisis.

In one city, households say they’re receiving mail as infrequently as just once a fortnight.

Postal workers say delivery rounds have been axed and letters are piled up at sorting offices, as they are told to prioritise the more lucrative tracked and signed for deliveries.

They have branded the situation ‘diabolical’ and say they are facing an ‘angry backlash’ on the doorstep.

One resident in Brighton said: ‘It’s absolutely atrocious. I’m getting my post every 10 days or so and ended up missing a hospital appointment. The postal service in this city is not fit for purpose.’

Another said that after post failed to arrive they went to the sorting office and found they had seven letters and a parcel waiting for them.

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton said: ‘My constituents are experiencing very real problems with post deliveries, causing them to miss hospital appointments because letters do not turn up in time, as well as the delays compounding grief and heartache.

‘This was the case for the mother who received beautiful letters meant for her adult son. He never got to see them because they arrived after he had died.’

Tim Loughton, Conservative MP for Worthing, said his constituents are seeing major problems with delivery.

Deborah Bennett, of West Sussex, said a hospital appointment letter sent 1st class by her local hospital arrived a full 12 days after it was posted by the hospital.

She tweeted: ‘We’ve not been receiving our mail, once per two weeks if we’re lucky. Where’s our mail? Complained three times to Royal Mail months ago.’

Ofcom has launched an investigation into delivery failures and has the power to issue a financial penalty to Royal Mail.

The delivery delays come after Royal Mail recently caused outrage when it raised the price of a first class stamp 14 per cent from £1.10 to £1.25.

The crisis is replicated in towns and cities across the UK with residents and businesses complaining service has ‘dropped off as cliff’.

In Bath, one customer said: ‘My wife celebrated her birthday without several cards and gifts which arrived a full fortnight afterwards despite being posted a week before her birthday. The system is broken.’

One resident in Widnes, Lancs, said there were two-hour queues outside the sorting office just to receive post, which should have been delivered.

Low priority: Postal workers say rounds have been axed and letters are piled up at sorting offices, as they are told to prioritise the more lucrative tracked and signed for deliveries

Social media platform X – formerly known as Twitter – has been awash with complaints about the frequency of deliveries overt the last fortnight.

David Marsh in Newbury said: ‘Has Royal Mail completely given up deliveries in my part of Newbury? We used to get 4-5 a week. For the last couple of months, it’s been one delivery a week. This week: nothing at all.’

Anna Arnone said: ‘Royal Mail letter delivery services appear to be disintegrating. It feels like the service is being destroyed.’

Another angry father, John Bridgman said: ‘No mail delivery all week when it’s my daughter’s birthday. Royal Mail your level of service is terrible. The fact you still sell stamps is a joke, people might as well tape their cards to a pigeon and cross their fingers.’

Jamie Derrick said: ‘Can someone explain to me why 14 days after packages were posted to me I’m still waiting for them to be delivered? No post for a week. Amazing that a service I pay for takes so long to deliver. Not good enough.’

Another resident said: ‘My postal delivery has dropped off a cliff. I now get post once a week if I’m lucky. Some of these letters are very important to me – things like hospital appointment letters.’

Royal Mail is bound by the universal postal service which requires it to deliver letters six days a week (Monday to Saturday) and parcels five days a week (Monday to Friday) to every address in the UK, at affordable prices that are uniform throughout the UK.

These minimum requirements are set out in legislation, and any changes to them can only be made by the UK Government and Parliament.

Ofcom, whose job it is to ensure the universal service is provided, said Royal Mail was failing to meet delivery targets.

A 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.’

Ofcom has the power to impose a financial penalty if Royal Mail fails to provide a proper service.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: ‘We have dedicated teams responsible for identifying delays at our delivery offices and taking immediate action.

‘This includes extensive recruitment – 6,000 new postmen and women have been hired in the last 12 weeks – and detailed plans to improve quality and provide a reliable service moving forward.

‘These measures add to the extensive plans we have in place to ensure a successful festive period. We are hiring 16,000 seasonal workers, increasing our vehicle numbers, and boosting our operational capacity with extra parcel sorting sites to manage the expected demand.

‘These actions and others are already making a difference. We are confident they will continue to improve our service, limit delays, and help deliver for our customers.’