Royal Mail investigated by Ofcom after failing to meet delivery targets

Royal Mail is being investigated by Ofcom in response to its failure to meet first and second class mail delivery targets.

The regulator launched a probe on Tuesday, investigating whether there are reasonable grounds for believing that Royal Mail has failed to comply with its current obligations.

Royal Mail said earlier this month it did not meet delivery targets for 2021-2022, including those for mail and postcode areas, blaming disruption during the spread of the coronavirus and the “pingdemic“ of COVID alerts that pummelled British businesses.

Just under 82 per cent of first-class post was delivered the next working day in the 12 months to the start of April.

Its target is for 99.9 per cent of delivery routes to be completed each day that a delivery is required, but it reached only 94.09 per cent.

Another is to deliver 98.5 per cent of Second Class mail within three working days of collection but it only managed 95.4 per cent.

“Our investigation … will gather evidence to understand the reasons behind this substantial lapse in performance, and determine whether Royal Mail has breached its requirements,” Ofcom said in a statement.

Royal Mail benefited from a parcel boom during the pandemic, but said meeting financial forecasts this year hinged on its main labour union agreeing a pay deal which the latter has so far rejected.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We are disappointed with our 2021-22 Quality of Service performance and apologise to all customers that have been affected by any service issues. We will fully participate in the investigation.

“As we return to more normal ways of working and deliver on our transformation programme, we are confident that we are doing the right things to enable service levels to improve going forward.”