Pandemic no longer excuse for missing delivery targets, Ofcom warns Royal Mail

[POSTMAN]

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/20 ... ry-targets

Ofcom concludes investigation into Royal Mail’s 2021-22 delivery performance

Ofcom has warned Royal Mail that it cannot continue to rely on the impact of Covid-19 as an excuse for poor delivery performance, after the company missed several regulatory targets last year due to the pandemic.


The warning comes as the regulator concluded its investigation into Royal Mail’s delivery performance between April 2021 and March 2022. The company failed to meet several of its annual delivery targets, including:

82% of First Class mail delivered within one working day of collection, below the target of 93%;
95.6% of Second Class mail delivered within three working days of collection, against the target of 98.5%; and
completing 94.29% of delivery routes on each day that a delivery is required, against the target of 99.9%.

Assessment of exceptional events
Ofcom can consider evidence submitted by Royal Mail of any exceptional events, beyond the company’s control, that may have explained why it missed its targets.

Having examined Royal Mail’s submission, we accept that, for much of 2021-22, Covid-19 continued to have a significant, pervasive and unprecedented impact on Royal Mail’s operations. This included:

increased and unpredictable staff absences, for example – between November 2021 and January 2022 during the peak of the Omicron variant;
unusually high parcel volumes and larger parcel sizes, resulting in longer rounds for frontline staff, more frequent replenishments of trolleys, and a need to use more vans to increase overall capacity; and
continued challenges presented by social distancing measures.

Our decision
In our view, had it not been for the impacts of Covid-19, Royal Mail’s performance levels would have been significantly higher, and it is possible that it may have met its targets. As such, we decided it was not appropriate to find Royal Mail in breach of its regulatory obligations for 2021-22.

But we do not expect Covid-19 to have a continuing, significant impact on the company’s service levels. Social distancing measures are no longer in place, absence levels are likely to be much less unpredictable, and parcel volumes have largely returned to pre-pandemic trends.

We are concerned by the fact that Royal Mail’s performance in the early part of 2022-23 fell well short of where it should be. We believe the company has had plenty of time to learn lessons from the pandemic, and we are unlikely to consider the factors outlined above as exceptional and beyond its control in future.

The company has committed to restoring quality of service as quickly as possible, and we will be keeping a close eye on its performance over the remainder of 2022-23.

Looking back at last year, Covid-19 was clearly still having a significant impact on Royal Mail’s operations. However, the company’s had plenty of time to learn lessons from the pandemic, and cannot continue to use it as an excuse.

We’re concerned by Royal Mail’s performance so far this year, which is falling well short of where it should be. It must do everything it can to bring service levels back up, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on it throughout the year.

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom's Group Director for Networks and Communications


https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/ ... rmance.pdf

decision-2021-22-royal-mail-quality-of-service-performance.pdf

[Acca Dacca]

About f***ing time

Guaranteed we get the blame though

[walthmstowman]

When 10,000 of us are made redundant that should improve things ........NOT !

[datasaint]

Looks like the government are telling RM to get their act together. Maybe this will put pressure on the board to resolve the dispute.

[pieoftheday]

This was just reported on TV, GB news, I wonder if the mainstream media will pick it up

[POSTPERSON50]

Covid was the green light for Royal Mail to ignore the USO.

Once Royal Mail were 'justified' in not clearing the offices on a daily basis, it became an unofficial policy to not bother clearing the offices even when they had the opportunity to do so. They massively reduced pressure overtime by telling staff to cut off, or just leave in what they couldn't manage. If someone went sick, the letters were left in and other staff cleared their packets, often failing their own letters in doing that.

Once that started it became a habit.
It has continued to the point where less staff are being utilised on a daily basis, which has led to management deciding that jobs need to go across the board.

Ofcom rely on the failure figures which Royal Mail supply to them. The reality is that failures are far worse than what is reported.

[Kenfandango]

Covid was the green light for Royal Mail to ignore the USO.

Once Royal Mail were 'justified' in not clearing the offices on a daily basis, it became an unofficial policy to not bother clearing the offices even when they had the opportunity to do so. They massively reduced pressure overtime by telling staff to cut off, or just leave in what they couldn't manage. If someone went sick, the letters were left in and other staff cleared their packets, often failing their own letters in doing that.

Once that started it became a habit.
It has continued to the point where less staff are being utilised on a daily basis, which has led to management deciding that jobs need to go across the board.

Ofcom rely on the failure figures which Royal Mail supply to them. The reality is that failures are far worse than what is reported.

Yep, last october someone retired in our DO, they signed someone onto it who had broken their leg 2 weeks before. Then they ignored it for 8 days (except the tracked, of course) as mail piled up around the frame. Then they panicked and tried to get a new starter (3 weeks in) to complete it, and actively discouraged others from helping with prep

[seesred]

It would not entirely surprise me if RM have forced the issue regarding industrial action in order to have something to blame for failing to meet their USO obligations in 2022-2023, thereby dodging a hefty fine. It seems clear enough that once Covid gave them an excuse for failure they've not cared at all about the USO. Continuing failure has just demonstrated its unsustainability in their eyes, regardless of us knowing the business has not been staffed at a level which would enable the obligations to be met.

[sledger]

It would not entirely surprise me if RM have forced the issue regarding industrial action in order to have something to blame for failing to meet their USO obligations in 2022-2023, thereby dodging a hefty fine. It seems clear enough that once Covid gave them an excuse for failure they've not cared at all about the USO. Continuing failure has just demonstrated its unsustainability in their eyes, regardless of us knowing the business has not been staffed at a level which would enable the obligations to be met.

youre quite right i said this a week ago,fail the uso get it changed then suprise suprise redundancies all round,fire and rehire through the back door,they really are despicable human beings.

[guardianangel]

OFCOM will do nothing they are run by the Tories.

[goneaway]

It would not entirely surprise me if RM have forced the issue regarding industrial action in order to have something to blame for failing to meet their USO obligations in 2022-2023...

Can RM use industrial action as an excuse to miss the targets and avoid fines? Whether there is industrial action is something in at least their partial control ( by negotiating a fair deal in a timely manner).

[POSTMAN]

crap.jpg

[norris9]

We are concerned by the fact that Royal Mail’s performance in the early part of 2022-23 fell well short of where it should be. We believe the company has had plenty of time to learn lessons from the pandemic, and we are unlikely to consider the factors outlined above as exceptional and beyond its control in future.

The company has committed to restoring quality of service as quickly as possible, and we will be keeping a close eye on its performance over the remainder of 2022-23.

It fell well short in the early part of this tax year as they purposefully understaffed us and continue to do so.

Royal Mail do not care about the USO. There is no chance they are going to restore the quality of service quickly or ever.

[Wullie10]

They'll just do what everyone else does and blame Brexit..

[rambo1]

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/20 ... ry-targets

Ofcom concludes investigation into Royal Mail’s 2021-22 delivery performance

Ofcom has warned Royal Mail that it cannot continue to rely on the impact of Covid-19 as an excuse for poor delivery performance, after the company missed several regulatory targets last year due to the pandemic.


The warning comes as the regulator concluded its investigation into Royal Mail’s delivery performance between April 2021 and March 2022. The company failed to meet several of its annual delivery targets, including:

82% of First Class mail delivered within one working day of collection, below the target of 93%;
95.6% of Second Class mail delivered within three working days of collection, against the target of 98.5%; and
completing 94.29% of delivery routes on each day that a delivery is required, against the target of 99.9%.

Assessment of exceptional events
Ofcom can consider evidence submitted by Royal Mail of any exceptional events, beyond the company’s control, that may have explained why it missed its targets.

Having examined Royal Mail’s submission, we accept that, for much of 2021-22, Covid-19 continued to have a significant, pervasive and unprecedented impact on Royal Mail’s operations. This included:

increased and unpredictable staff absences, for example – between November 2021 and January 2022 during the peak of the Omicron variant;
unusually high parcel volumes and larger parcel sizes, resulting in longer rounds for frontline staff, more frequent replenishments of trolleys, and a need to use more vans to increase overall capacity; and
continued challenges presented by social distancing measures.

Our decision
In our view, had it not been for the impacts of Covid-19, Royal Mail’s performance levels would have been significantly higher, and it is possible that it may have met its targets. As such, we decided it was not appropriate to find Royal Mail in breach of its regulatory obligations for 2021-22.

But we do not expect Covid-19 to have a continuing, significant impact on the company’s service levels. Social distancing measures are no longer in place, absence levels are likely to be much less unpredictable, and parcel volumes have largely returned to pre-pandemic trends.

We are concerned by the fact that Royal Mail’s performance in the early part of 2022-23 fell well short of where it should be. We believe the company has had plenty of time to learn lessons from the pandemic, and we are unlikely to consider the factors outlined above as exceptional and beyond its control in future.

The company has committed to restoring quality of service as quickly as possible, and we will be keeping a close eye on its performance over the remainder of 2022-23.

Looking back at last year, Covid-19 was clearly still having a significant impact on Royal Mail’s operations. However, the company’s had plenty of time to learn lessons from the pandemic, and cannot continue to use it as an excuse.

We’re concerned by Royal Mail’s performance so far this year, which is falling well short of where it should be. It must do everything it can to bring service levels back up, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on it throughout the year.

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom's Group Director for Networks and Communications


https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/ ... rmance.pdf
decision-2021-22-royal-mail-quality-of-service-performance.pdf

About time!!! Looking at what's been left at our place today, we are going to be paying big fines rather than a pay rise. The BOD and Thompson at the head are bonkers!!