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Royal Mail have announced they are set to cut 700 jobs from the business.
The move comes as part of cost-cutting measures, the company has announced.
It comes days after it emerged the firm received more than a million complaints from householders last year, the highest level for a decade, with more than a 50% increase compared with the previous 12 months.
READ MORE:Royal Mail warning as Merseyside postcodes hit with delays
Making 700 managers redundant would save around £40million every year, according to the Royal Mail – that’s around £57,142 per manager.
Around £30million of that would come between April 2022 and April 2023.
However, there would be a one-off cost of £70million to make all the redundancies – which Royal Mail would pay before April this year.
Announcing its quarterly results today, the postal service said: “As previously stated, there is still some uncertainty over the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic and current Omicron wave, consumer behaviour, and economic factors such as GDP growth and inflation.”
They added: “Our successful ‘Day in the Life of’ initiative has already reduced administration for frontline managers and allowed us to repurpose over one million annualised hours so that managers can spend more time focusing on their teams and customers.
“As a next step, subject to consultation, we intend to further simplify and streamline our operational structures to ensure an improved focus on local performance, and devolve more accountability and flexibility to frontline operational managers.”
In response to the rise in complaints, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The overwhelming majority of all mail is safely and correctly delivered by our postmen and women, with just one complaint for around every 10,000 items of mail handled by Royal Mail in 2020-21.
“Where something goes wrong, our aim is to promptly deal with the problem and rectify it as soon as possible.
“We are the only UK delivery company that publishes an annual complaints report, as well as a quality of service report which is subject to some of the most rigorous standards of any major European country.”
The firm is now consulting on the move, which will involve unions Unite, CMA and CWU.
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