Estimated 15.7million individuals hit by postal delays charity says, because it requires more durable assessment into Royal Mail

Jun 30, 2023 at 1:19 AM

An estimated 15.7 million individuals within the UK skilled postal delays final month, in response to new analysis commissioned by the charity, Citizens Advice.

Many of those that skilled delays mentioned that they had suffered knock-on impacts, reminiscent of lacking well being appointments, fines or payments.

One lady mentioned not less than 4 of her hospital appointment letters had been delayed throughout a “high risk” being pregnant.

Citizens Advice Chief Executive, Dame Clare Moriarty, described the extent of delays as “appalling”.

The charity additionally referred to as on regulator Ofcom to strengthen its present assessment of postal providers.

Royal Mail mentioned the yr 2022/2023 was “one of the most challenging in our history” and mentioned its providers had been impacted by strikes and “high levels” of employees absence.

The survey of greater than 4,000 adults surveyed between 25 May and 5 June discovered almost one in three (31%) of these questioned – equal to be round 15.7million individuals if replicated throughout the UK – mentioned that they had skilled a letter delay, whereas 22% mentioned that they had skilled a parcel delay.

Of those that responded, 15% mentioned that they had skilled a critical destructive consequence, together with lacking necessary paperwork, lacking a well being appointment, or dropping cash by way of fines.

The charity additionally mentioned that its analysis confirmed how individuals of color had been almost twice as seemingly (23%) to expertise destructive penalties on account of letter delays in comparison with white respondents (13%).

Meanwhile, 21% of disabled individuals skilled destructive penalties on account of letter delays, in comparison with 13% of non-disabled individuals, in response to the charity.

Winifred, a 24-year-old from Hemel Hempstead, advised the charity that in her being pregnant – thought to be “high risk” by medical doctors – she waited for a number of hospital letters that did not arrive on time.

“I was so stressed out,” she mentioned.

Winifred, who now has an eight-week-old child, added: “Another time, I knew I had an appointment that week, but hadn’t received the letter so I went directly to the hospital to ask when the appointment was.

“They advised me it was the following day – if I hadn’t gone to the hospital to ask, I might have missed it.”

The Citizens Advice report comes after MPs recently highlighted evidence that Royal Mail had prioritised parcels over letters and called on Ofcom to investigate this issue across a number of years.

The charity said its research showed it was no longer acceptable for Ofcom to have a business-as-usual approach to its investigation and called on the regulator to launch a multi-year review into mail delays and deprioritisation.

Dame Clare Moriarty mentioned: “Royal Mail’s delays are nonetheless at appalling ranges and it is customers who’re being saddled with the implications.

“Delayed post’s been an issue for years and the problem is only getting worse. Ofcom must now do a full root-and-branch investigation into mail delays.”

A spokesperson for Royal Mail mentioned: “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 quality of service materially impacted by the long-running industrial dispute with the CWU and compounded in some areas by high levels of staff absences.

“Improving high quality of service is a high precedence and an enchancment plan is already underway.”

An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We assess Royal Mail’s efficiency in opposition to annual supply targets and we’re investigating its failure to satisfy supply targets for 2022/23.

“We take quality of service seriously. If we determine that Royal Mail has failed to comply with its obligations, we may consider whether to impose a financial penalty.”