With regards to prioritisation, our rules do not specify how Royal Mail should organise its operations to provide first and second class services. Royal Mail is given flexibility on how best to organise these operations. However, as you’ll be aware, Ofcom’s rules require Royal Mail to meet a set of minimum performance standards when delivering the universal service. These include national quality of service (QoS) performance targets for collections and delivery which apply across all of the UK. For Ofcom to be able to assess Royal Mail’s compliance with these standards, rather than relying on results from individual delivery offices, we require Royal Mail to monitor its performance using an appropriate and independent testing methodology.
Royal Mail meets this requirement by appointing a market research agency to carry out a series of surveys involving anonymous test items. The market research agency recruits a panel of private individuals and businesses across the UK who post items of test mail to each other. These surveys are carried out in accordance with the relevant statistical standards and are subject to review by an independent auditor. Royal Mail is required to report the audited performance data to Ofcom and to publish it on its website. Ofcom uses this data to assess Royal Mail’s compliance. Compliance is assessed on an annual basis, looking at the results for the whole year from April to March, and across a wide geographic area (national or large regions, rather than at delivery office level). Ultimately, if mail is delayed it is likely that this will be picked up in the delivery targets.
Ofcom takes Royal Mail’s compliance with its regulatory obligations very seriously and on 15 October 2025 we fined Royal Mail £21 million for its failure to meet a number of its QoS performance targets in the year 2024/25. We have been clear that Royal Mail needs to make significant improvements to its QoS performance so that customers see improved performance and a better service.
In my office, they know which address gets test mail. Needless to say, the walk where that address is gets cleared every day. No post piling up there for more than a week like other walks. OFCOM is happy with Royal Mail faking their numbers and running its own dodgy compliance (that they still manage to fail).
Last edited by John Gaita on 29 Oct 2025, 11:07, edited 1 time in total.
In my office, they know which address gets test mail.
Anyone who becomes aware of the identity of a pannelist is required to say something to someone. I don't really know to whom, so I maintain a policy of deliberate ignorance.
This is all supposed to be taken very seriously after half the country's managers were rumbled in 2009 documenting all the pannelist addresses in a shared database.
This is all supposed to be taken very seriously after half the country's managers were rumbled in 2009 documenting all the pannelist addresses in a shared database.
they're the only ones that go out somedays
