The postal service fell far below targets (Picture: Royal Mail/PA Wire)
Royal Mail has been fined £21million for missing its first and second class mail delivery targets in the financial year.
Ofcom said the postal service only delivered 77% of first-class mail and 92.5% of second-class mail on time.
This was even after the regulator accounted for ‘exceptional weather events’,meaning its failure to deliver mail on time cannot be ‘justified’.
Between April 2024 and March 2025,the company was required to deliver 93% of first-class mail within one working day of collection and 98.5% of second-class mail within three working days.
Royal Mail has missed delivery targets for three years now (Picture: Reuters)
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Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.This is the third year in a row that the regulator has fined the company for breaching its obligation to deliver post on time. It follows penalties of £5.6million in November 2023 and £10.5million in December 2024.Royal Mail has been increasingly plagued by service issues and financial pressures – with Ofcom calling it ‘unsustainable in the long-term’ last year.The courier company drafted an improvement plan for 2024/25 to hit its delivery targets. The plan did not happen,Ofcom said.Ian Strawhorne,director of enforcement at Ofcom,said: ‘Millions of important letters are arriving late,and people aren’t getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp.‘These persistent failures are unacceptable,and customers expect and deserve better.‘Royal Mail must rebuild consumers’ confidence as a matter of urgency. And that means making actual significant improvements,not more empty promises.‘We’ve told the company to publicly set out how it’s going to deliver this change,and we expect to start seeing meaningful progress soon. If this doesn’t happen,fines are likely to continue.’Royal Mail told Metro: ‘We acknowledge the decision made by Ofcom today and we will continue to work hard to deliver further sustained improvements to our quality of service.‘A key area of focus and investment has been the detailed work ahead of full implementation of our new delivery model,enabled by Ofcom’s changes to the Universal Service. This is critical to enable us to drive a step change in quality of service. We have also implemented important changes across our network including recruiting,retaining and training our people,and providing additional support to delivery offices. ‘Where we have piloted Universal Service changes,we can see that our model is working,with improvements in deliveries. This will help us deliver a modern,reliable and more financially sustainable postal service that meets the needs of today’s postal users.’
