Members of parliament referred the Royal Mail to the communications watchdog for not delivering letters nationwide six days a week.
The company was accused in a Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Commission report of “systematic failure” to deliver on its universal service obligations.
A scathing document also suggests Royal Mail Chief Executive Simon Thompson said it was ‘not entirely accurate’ In the answer given during the evidence session.
That was after it was revealed that the Royal Mail had failed to deliver nearly half of its first-class mail on time by Christmas, in what it considered the worst performance in the company’s history. It is
Royal Mail could face a fine of around £1m after Ofcom said it would “not hesitate to take enforcement action if necessary”.
Royal Mail fined £1.5m in 2019 Failure to deliver first class mail on time.
Delivery services avoided penalties for their services last year due to the impact of the pandemic, Ofcom warns Royal Mail to stop using Covid-19 as an excuse.
“Decreased priority of letters”
Ofcom said last night that its performance is “far from what it should be.”
A spokesperson said: Service levels are backed up as a matter of urgency“.
Ofcom added that it “has received the commission’s report and will consider it carefully.”
Last year, Royal Mail lobbied the government to replace the current minimum six-day delivery service with a minimum five-day letter delivery service, excluding Saturdays.
The commission’s report said it had received “extensive evidence that the company did not prioritize letters over parcels.”
“Hiding the pandemic as the driving force behind the Royal Mail’s failure doesn’t work,” said Darren Jones, chairman of the committee.
“Ofcom needs to start an enforcement process to make sure everyone gets consistent service everywhere. Is not it.”
Lawmakers also made the unprecedented intervention of recalling Mr Thompson to present evidence. After he denied tracking the postman during his rounds Encourage them to work faster, Use the postal digital assistant system.
When the committee spoke with Mr. Thompson, he said the committee’s “concerns have not abated, in fact, increased.”
Review of company management
According to the report, MPs “didn’t believe such widespread errors could occur without the direct or indirect approval of management.”
The committee urged the Royal Mail board of directors to review the company’s operations on grounds of “negligence” when they knew nothing about the practice.
The report also asked the Information Commissioner to confirm the legal basis for the collection and use of this data.
“Some of the statements made by the chief executive in oral evidence provoked a strong reaction from postal workers who contacted the Commission directly, claiming that the Commission had been misled.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Royal Mail is proud to offer a universal service and our policy is clear that we give equal importance to parcels and letters.
“We have informed the Commission that we will consider applying our policy on letter and parcel delivery consistently across our businesses.
“We will share our findings with the Commission and Ofcom.”
They added, “We reject the suggestion that Royal Mail may have misled the BEIS selection committee in the process.”
