Royal Mail: we are committed to transformation and restoring service levels to where our customers expect them to be

Royal Mail has issued its Universal Service Obligation (USO) full year Quality of Service report for 2022-23 for First and Second Class mail.  Over the year, to 26 March 2023, Royal Mail delivered 90.7% of Second Class Mail within three working days (95.2% adjusted for the impact of strike action) and 73.7% of First Class within one working day (81.5% adjusted). 

In the fourth quarter of the year, 94.5% of Second Class mail was delivered within three working days and 78.9% of First Class was delivered within one working day. This represents an improvement in quality of service on the quarter three numbers.

The full year outcome on quality of service was materially impacted by the long-running industrial dispute with the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) which included 18 days of strike action. High levels of staff absence continue to affect operational performance.

Our focus is to restore our service to the high standards our customers expect and we are pleased we now have a proposed agreement with the CWU which we hope members will approve in the coming weeks. The agreement will allow us to work together with the CWU to reduce absence, equalise workload and therefore rapidly improve quality of service.

Grant McPherson, Chief Operating Officer, Royal Mail said: “Improving quality of service is our top priority. We are committed to accelerating Royal Mail’s transformation and restoring service levels to where our customers expect them to be.

“We’re sorry to any customers who may have been impacted by our performance during a year that has been one of the most challenging in our history. With the plans we have in place to drive service levels and reduce absence, we hope and expect to see further progress in the coming months.”

The latest independent report on performance was published today on Royal Mail’s website here.