Ofcom has today (13) fined Royal Mail £10,500,000 for failing to meet its First and Second Class delivery targets in the 2023/24 financial year.
It is the second time the regulator found the company in breach of its regulatory obligations in recent years, after they fined it £5.6m in November 2023 for its performance during 2022/23.
Ofcom’s rules require Royal Mail to deliver, in each financial year, 93% of First Class mail within one working day of collection and 98.5% of Second Class mail within three working days of collection.
From April 2023 to March 2024, the company only delivered 74.7% of First Class mail on time and 92.7% of Second Class mail on time. The company blamed its poor performance on its challenging financial position, and delays to the ballot on a deal that followed the previous year’s industrial action.
Ian Strawhorne, Ofcom’s director of enforcement, said: “With millions of letters arriving late, far too many people aren’t getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp. Royal Mail’s poor service is now eroding public trust in one of the UK’s oldest institutions.
“This is the second time we’ve fined the company since the pandemic. Royal Mail has provided an improvement plan, and we’re seeing some signs of progress, but it must go further and faster to deliver the service that people expect.”
The financial penalty of £10,500,000 will be passed in full to HM Treasury, and a non-confidential version of Ofcom’s full decision will be published in due course.
The fine includes a 30% reduction from the £15,000,000 we would otherwise have imposed, reflecting Royal Mail’s admissions of liability and agreement to settle the case.
