Royal Mail faces fine for failing to deliver on time

ROYAL MAIL could be fined millions of pounds by Ofcom after the regulator said it was “concerned” about the long delays faced by customers.

Deliveries that should take between one and two days are not arriving for weeks. Last week, long delays were reported in 80 postcodes. Royal Mail has blamed staff absences.

The company could be fined up to £800million for failing to comply with a legal requirement to deliver mail on time – although it is thought that any penalties would be considerably lower.

The company can be fined up to 10 per cent of its “turnover from postal services” for breaching the universal service obligation – rules that require Royal Mail to deliver six days a week.

Last year, Royal Mail generated £8.6billion in revenue from the UK, according to the its annual report.

There have been calls for Ofcom, which regulates Royal Mail, to launch an investigation into slow deliveries.

Sarah Jones, a shadow minister, told The Times she had written to Royal Mail asking it to “investigate the current state of affairs” following numerous complaints from constituents.

An Ofcom spokesman said it would take action if performance targets were not met, adding: “We closely monitor its delivery performance throughout the year, and have made it clear to the company that it must improve as the impacts of the pandemic subside. We will assess Royal Mail’s compliance after it has reported on its overall performance for the whole financial year.”

Around 15,000 postal service workers (one in seven) were sick or isolating as omicron spread in the first week of January. This figure was 13,000 last week, which is double the normal level for this time of year.

Royal Mail was fined £1.5million by Ofcom for missing targets in 2018-19.

It is required by Ofcom to deliver at least 93 per cent of first-class post in the UK within one working day of collection. In 2018-19, 91.5 per cent of firstclass post was delivered on time.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Deliveries are operating as normal across most of the country. We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week. In a small number of local offices this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as Covidrelated self-isolation, higher than usual levels of sickness absence, resourcing or other local factors.

“Our postmen and women are continuing to work incredibly hard, as they have done throughout the pandemic, and we are thankful for all of their efforts and determination.”