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Royal Mail has come under attack from a group of MPs, who have accused the company of failing to deliver letters six days a week, and prioritising parcel deliveries.
The MPs, from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee (EIS), said the company had “systematically failed to deliver” letters from Monday-Saturday, putting it in breach of its Universal Service Obligation (USO). Royal Mail has now been referred to Ofcom to investigate.
The committee was also critical of Royal Mail boss Simon Thompson, who they accused of giving “not wholly accurate” answers to the questions the MPs asked him about the use of technology to track and discipline workers, saying they “did not believe that such widespread errors could happen without direct or indirect approval of management”.
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The Mirror reports that committee chairman Darren Jones said: “I find it hard to believe that such widespread breaches of company policy and legal obligations are down to a national network of rogue workers conspiring against management at Royal Mail. We were inundated with evidence from postal workers challenging the accuracy of answers given by Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson.”
The committee said Royal Mail was going through troubled times, noting the firm said last year it was losing £1 million per day, but said “It is in the midst of a bitter industrial dispute with its workforce and we believe that Royal Mail is failing to meet some of its statutory requirements under the USO. When we explored these issues with Royal Mail’s senior management, our concerns were not allayed, in fact they grew. Some of the statements made by the chief executive officer during oral evidence provoked a huge response from postal workers, who contacted the committee directly, claiming that the committee had been misled.
“Royal Mail denied having any knowledge of the tracking of postal workers using technology and said evidence of this practice, and of managers disciplining postal workers using such data, was due to non-compliance with Royal Mail policy,” said the committee. But chairman Darren Jones said: “I find it hard to believe that such widespread breaches of company policy and legal obligations are down to a national network of rogue workers conspiring against management at Royal Mail. We were inundated with evidence from postal workers challenging the accuracy of answers given by Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson. Frankly, the failures in company policy which Mr Thompson has admitted to can only be due to either an unacceptable level of incompetence or an unacceptable level of cluelessness about what is happening at Royal Mail.
“Hiding behind the pandemic as a driving factor in failures at Royal Mail does not cut it. Ofcom must start enforcement proceedings to ensure everyone gets a consistent service wherever they are. Otherwise, what’s the point in having a USO at all?”
Communications Workers Union (CWU)members working for Royal Mail took part in 18 days of strike action between August 26 and December 24, 2022, due to ongoing disputes over pay and changes to terms and conditions. CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “The report vindicates why the workforce have lost total confidence in CEO Simon Thompson and his senior leadership appointees. Their mantra of ‘our business to run’ has seen a vicious and unprecedented level of attacks on postal workers and the service they provide. The deliberate running down of the USO has actually worsened, not improved, since the Select Committee.”
The Royal Mail has been referred to Ofcom over late deliveries and letters and the regulator said it would consider the MPs’ report, adding recent performance from Royal Mail was “clearly well short of where it should be”.
However, Royal Mail rejected the accusations that it has misled the BEIS committee. A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Royal Mail is proud to deliver the universal service, and our policies are clear that parcels and letters should be treated with equal importance. We have informed the committee that we will be reviewing the consistent application of our policies regarding the delivery of letters and parcels across the business.
“We will share our findings with the committee and Ofcom. We have asked the committee to share the material they have received, and reiterate again our request for them to do that at the earliest opportunity so it can help inform that review. Royal Mail answered in detail the questions asked by the committee – in person and in correspondence – about the company’s performance, finances and service delivery. We reject the suggestion that Royal Mail may have misled the BEIS Select Committee in that process.”
Royal Mail is currently legally required to deliver letters to every address in the UK six days a week under what is known as the Universal Service Obligation (USO). It is the only postal and courier service which has this obligation, and has been pushing for deliveries to be cut to five days as the number of posted letters has fallen, pointing to the 2020 Ofcom report which concluded reducing letter deliveries to five days a week would meet the needs of 97 per cent of users. However the Government has refused to reduce the USO, with business minister Kevin Hollinrake saying in December there were ‘no current plans’ to allow any changes. Any alterations to the USO would need to be made through legislation and agreed by Parliament.
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