Royal Mail has breached its public service obligations, but regulator Ofcom is nowhere to be seen
Royal Mail bosses admitted last week the company has breached its public service obligations. Royal Mail is required by law to deliver letters 6 days a week to every address across the UK. But CEO Simon Thompson admitted last week the business hasn’t met this obligation “for some time”.
The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee first heard evidence from Royal Mail on 17 January. But the Chair, Darren Jones MP, asked Royal Mail bosses to come back to Parliament after concerns about the evidence given.
On Wednesday last week Mr. Thompson appeared in Parliament again. The Select Committee took the unusual step of asking witnesses to swear an oath at the beginning of the session.
Posties were told to “leave letters behind”
Mr. Jones said the committee had received almost 1,500 emails from postal workers across the country. The emails contained videos, pictures and audio recordings. And, according to the Committee, posties were told to leave letters behind. One poster states that post should be delivered “at a minimum every other day”.
Another poster appears to tell posties to prioritise premium parcels over regular letters.
The Chair told Mr. Thompson that there is a system-wide failure at Royal Mail to deliver letters 6 days each week because there are verbal briefings cascaded through the business telling posties to leave letters behind. He had to ask Mr. Thompson 9 times before he got an answer. The Royal Mail CEO said he didn’t recognise those briefings.
There’s a theme to your answers today, gentlemen, which is that we have rogue posters, we have rogue managers, we have isolated incidents, we have got a global pandemic, we have industrial action — it’s everyone else’s fault that there are all of these problems. “Nothing to do with me, guv!” —
Millions face harm because of Royal Mail delays
This series of excuses isn’t new to Citizens Advice. For 3 years running, we’ve shown delays have left millions waiting for their post. People have missed important legal documents, health appointment letters and even financial support from the government, such as energy vouchers. Our data revealed letter delays hit an estimated 31 million people (60% of UK adults) this Christmas.
These delays cause real harm to people. One client approached her local Citizens Advice in December after her energy support voucher was delayed in the post. Our client couldn’t afford to buy any food because of the delayed voucher. She called us to get help with a food voucher or to be referred to a foodbank. Our client can’t afford broadband payments so they don’t have any access to the internet. They rely on the postal service to get the support they’re entitled to.
Royal Mail’s poor service is becoming business as usual. Year-on-year it falls short of delivering basic service standards. The latest results reveal Royal Mail only delivered 54% of 1st class post on time last quarter, against a target of 93% arriving the next working day. And our evidence shows consumers are consistently more likely to say they’ve experienced delays with letters than with parcels.
Ofcom — the regulator responsible — is nowhere to be seen
Royal Mail has a virtual monopoly on delivering letters. This means the only protection for consumers against inadequate service is effective regulation. We’ve already called on Ofcom to investigate Royal Mail’s culture of poor performance. But Ofcom — the regulator responsible — is nowhere to be seen. Any allegations of letter deprioritisation would represent a breach of Royal Mail’s basic legal duties. You’d expect this would immediately attract Ofcom’s attention. But instead, the BEIS Select Committee has had to step into the vacuum. It has taken it upon itself to shine a light on any allegations of public service breaches.
Royal Mail delivers a public service. They’re required by law to deliver letters every day Monday to Saturday. They’re also required to give equal attention to delivering letters and parcels. If Royal Mail is ignoring their basic legal duties, then they’re no longer delivering a public service. People need a public service they can rely on, not a watered down version. Consumers need Ofcom to act and hold the company accountable.
