In response to Royal Mail’s Universal Service Obligation (USO) Quality of Service report for 1st and 2nd class mail for Q1 2024-25 published last week (August 23), Citizens Advice has said the operator “has yet again failed to meet its delivery targets”.
The postal operator revealed it delivered 94.1% of 2nd class mail within three working days and 79.1% of 1st class mail within one working day. However, according to Tom MacInnes, interim director of policy at Citizens Advice, this is not good enough.
“Royal Mail has yet again failed to meet its delivery targets this quarter, with consumers now bearing the brunt of poor service for half a decade,” he said. “The current review of Royal Mail’s universal service obligation will be a touchstone moment for the future of our postal service. But we’ve seen very little commitment from either Royal Mail or Ofcom to tackle these persistent failings properly.
“Options currently on the table all pave the way for a slower and more expensive postal service, at the point millions of us are already feeling the impact of ongoing letter delays. Ofcom and the new government must spell out how the revised USO will deliver for the millions who rely on it, not just for Royal Mail’s bottom line.”
Improvement on 2023
However, Royal Mail said year-on-year, 1st class quality of service increased by 4.5% and that in Q1, 93.5% of 1st class letters arrived within two days, compared to 91.6% during the same period in 2023.
In a statement on its website, the post said considerable action had been taken to continue to improve quality of service for 1st and 2nd class letters and parcels.
“Increased recruitment of permanent employees, new initiatives to reduce sick absence and improve retention, and the deployment of a Quality Control Centre to manage disruption are all contributing to improvements in reliability and quality of service,” it stated.
“In addition, we continue to modernize our business to adapt to the declining volumes of letters and growing demands for larger parcels and next-day deliveries. This has included removing half of domestic flights this year. More mail is now being transported by road, which is more reliable, has greater capacity for growing numbers of parcels and is better for the environment.”
Royal Mail chief operating officer, Alistair Cochrane, confirmed, “Delivering a high quality of service continues to be our top priority and I am pleased this ongoing focus has ensured improvements across the quarter.
“We know there is more to do and will continue on this path, enacting steady changes to our operational model to bring long-term improvements to our quality of service.”
Under investigation
In May, the UK’s communications regulator Ofcom announced it would be investigating Royal Mail’s underperformance in 2023/2024 after it failed to meet delivery targets, which include delivering 93% of 1st class mail within one working day of collection and 98.5% of 2nd class mail within three working days of collection.
The operator reported performance of 74.5% and 92.4% when it came to 1st and 2nd class mail respectively in the 2023/2024 financial year.