Royal Mail referred to Ofcom over late letter deliveries

Royal Mail is falling down connected its missive transportation obligations, a radical of MPs has said.

The steadfast has been prioritising parcel deliveries implicit letters, they said, and called connected Ofcom to investigate.

The regulator said Royal Mail's caller show was "clearly good abbreviated of wherever it should be" and said it would see the MPs' report.

Royal Mail said it had wide policies that parcels and letters "should beryllium treated with adjacent importance".

Royal Mail must, by law, present letters to each parts of the UK, six days per week, arsenic portion of its "universal work obligation".

If it fails to bash this, it tin beryllium fined by communications regulator Ofcom.

There was wide grounds that Royal Mail "systemically failed to deliver" connected this obligation, telling postal workers to marque definite they delivered parcels earlier letters, MPs connected the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee said.

They referred the substance to Ofcom, calling connected it to unfastened an enforcement investigation, speech to postal workers, and study backmost to the committee.

The MPs besides said Royal Mail's main enforcement Simon Thompson had not been "wholly accurate" successful answers helium gave to MPs connected the usage of exertion by managers to way and subject workers.

Royal Mail said it rejected the proposition that Royal Mail "may person misled" the committee successful answering its questions.

It said grounds that exertion had been utilized to show workers successful the mode suggested, was owed to immoderate managers contravening Royal Mail policy.

But the MPs said they did not judge that could person happened "without nonstop oregon indirect support of management". The committee said if elder absorption had not known, past they should beryllium investigated by the committee for negligence.

The MPs besides called connected the Information Commissioner to cheque whether this information postulation was legal.

The Information Commissioner's Office said it would respond to the report.

Ofcom said it was cautiously considering the MPs' study into precocious missive deliveries.

"We're precise acrophobic astir this and person asked the institution to explicate what it's doing to bring work levels backmost up arsenic a substance of urgency," the regulator said.

It said it would look astatine Royal Mail's show from April to March and wouldn't hesitate to instrumentality enforcement enactment if required.

Royal Mail said it would reappraisal however its transportation policies were being utilized and provender that backmost to MPs and Ofcom.

"The commercialized world of providing the cosmopolitan work has changed" Royal Mail said.

The institution has faced a bid of challenges successful caller months, including an ongoing concern quality implicit moving conditions.

Strikes caused sizeable disruption implicit the Christmas period.

Royal Mail was past deed by a cyber onslaught that disrupted overseas message services successful January and February.

In 2020 Ofcom fined the steadfast £1.5m for missing transportation targets.