Royal Mail fined £21m by Ofcom for missing delivery targets

Emer MoreauBusiness reporterGetty ImagesA quarter of all first-class put up was delivered late final yearRoyal Mail has been fined £21m after virtually 1 / 4 of first-class put up arrived late, Ofcom has introduced.It’s the third-largest nice the communications watchdog has ever issued and follows its investigation after Royal Mail missed its targets for each first and second-class put up in 2024/25.Ian Strawhorne, director of enforcement at Ofcom, stated: “Hundreds of thousands of necessary letters are arriving late, and folks don’t get what they pay for after they purchase a stamp.”Royal Mail stated it’s going to “proceed to work onerous to ship additional sustained enhancements to our high quality of service”.It delivered 77% of First Class mail and 92.5% of Second Class mail on time within the 2024/25 monetary 12 months, which was in need of its 93% and 98.5% targets.That is the third time it has been fined over supply delays in recent times, with penalities of £5.6m in November 2023 and £10.5m in December 2024.Ofcom stated the nice would have been £30m, but it surely had decreased it by 30% to replicate Royal Mail’s admission of its failings.The regulator warned fines had been “prone to proceed” until the corporate urgently delivers “a reputable enchancment plan”.’Empty guarantees’Ofcom stated Royal Mail printed an enchancment plan for final 12 months, geared toward delivering 85% of first-class put up on time and 97% of second-class put up, however “this has not materialised”.Mr Strawhorne stated: “Royal Mail should rebuild shoppers’ confidence as a matter of urgency. And meaning making precise important enhancements, no more empty guarantees.”Ofcom’s investigation discovered the corporate “breached its obligations by failing to supply a suitable stage of service with out justification”.It stated the actions taken by Royal Mail to try to attain its targets had been “inadequate and ineffective”.The nice, Ofcom stated, mirrored the “hurt suffered by prospects” on account of Royal Mail’s poor service.Second-class scrapped on SaturdaysUnder the common service obligation (USO), Royal Mail is required by legislation to ship letters six days per week and parcels 5 days per week to each handle within the UK.Since July, some areas solely obtain second-class letters each different weekday and never on Saturday, a change proposed by Ofcom earlier this 12 months.Responding to Ofcom, a Royal Mail spokesperson stated: “We acknowledge the choice made by Ofcom right this moment and we are going to proceed to work onerous to ship additional sustained enhancements to our high quality of service.”The spokesperson stated that the discount of second-class deliveries in some areas enabled the corporate to “drive a step change in high quality of service”.Royal Mail has additionally made adjustments in recruitment and coaching and has offered extra assist in supply places of work, the spokesperson added.The nice might be paid to the Treasury.