Royal Mail has introduced its remaining posting dates for Christmas ahead by a few week amid industrial motion by its employees, because the regulator instructed it to cease blaming the Covid pandemic for failing to make deliveries on time.
Royal Mail, which is dealing with six days of strikes this month operating up till Christmas Eve, has instructed the general public to ship their playing cards and presents even earlier than usual if they need them to reach in time.
The ultimate date for second class deliveries is now 12 December whereas for top notch it’s 16 December. Supply deadlines to worldwide locations have been introduced ahead, with the final being to Belgium, France and Luxembourg on 12 December. The ultimate posting date of any type earlier than Christmas is Particular Supply Assured on 21 December.
Members of the Communication Employees Union (CWU), which represents greater than 115,000 postal employees, have already held 12 days of strike motion in an increasingly bitter and protracted dispute with administration over pay and circumstances, and additional stoppages are deliberate on 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24 December.
“The CWU is placing at our busiest time, holding Christmas to ransom for our prospects, companies and households throughout the nation,” stated Nick Landon, chief industrial officer at Royal Mail. “We ask our prospects to submit early for Christmas to assist us ship Christmas.”
Final week, the union rejected a pay deal that Royal Mail said was its final offer. The corporate is dealing with 18 days of strikes this yr if all of the deliberate motion takes place. It has stated the eight days of strikes up till 16 November price it £100m,
On Friday, the postal regulator stated Royal Mail couldn’t preserve blaming the Covid-19 pandemic for failing to make deliveries on time as its efficiency is falling “nicely wanting the place it must be”.
Ofcom stated an investigation discovered the corporate had failed to fulfill a number of of its annual supply targets, together with solely 82% of top notch mail making it to recipients inside one working day of assortment within the yr to the top of March, towards a regulatory goal of 93%.
Royal Mail blamed the pandemic for failing to hit its targets, citing employees absence, notably in the course of the Omicron wave final Christmas, social-distancing measures and “unusually excessive parcel volumes and sizes” protracting the size of the supply course of.
“Wanting again eventually yr, Covid-19 was clearly nonetheless having a major impression on Royal Mail’s operations,” stated Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s group director for networks and communications. “Nevertheless, the corporate’s had loads of time to be taught classes from the pandemic, and can’t proceed to make use of it as an excuse.
“We’re involved by Royal Mail’s efficiency up to now this yr, which is falling nicely wanting the place it must be. It should do all the things it could to convey service ranges again up, and we’ll be holding an in depth eye on it all year long.”
Ofcom’s report discovered that whereas greater than 80% of households stated they had been happy with Royal Mail, 31% stated they skilled delayed submit up to now yr, up from 23% pre-pandemic.
A Royal Mail spokesperson apologised for the drop in service requirements but in addition identified that the corporate was accountable for delivering thousands and thousands of Covid-19 check kits through 35,000 precedence submit packing containers.
“We apologise to all prospects who had been impacted by service ranges throughout this time,” stated the spokesperson. “We’re happy that Ofcom additionally took into consideration the numerous, pervasive and unprecedented impression of the pandemic on our operation as we labored exhausting to maintain the nation linked whereas addressing the continued impacts of Covid-19, together with managing excessive ranges of illness absences. Our focus stays to revive our service to the excessive requirements our prospects count on to obtain.”
Ofcom’s annual evaluation of the UK postal market additionally discovered that the pandemic impact that fuelled a rise in parcels and drop in letters has worn off as outlets and companies reopened following the easing of restrictions.
Final month, Royal Mail requested the federal government to let it stop delivering letters on Saturdays, arguing it’s financially unsustainable after it reported a £219m loss within the six months to September.
The embattled firm, which final month warned it might want to chop as much as 10,000 jobs by August, made a £235m revenue in the identical interval final yr.
