Royal Mail has revealed it will halt the full rollout of its second-class post overhaul until after Christmas amid calls for the service to urgently improve its performance.
The group said it had agreed with the postal workers’ union to delay expanding the reforms to the remaining 107 delivery offices until January to allow staff to focus on the peak festive season.
Royal Mail, whose owner International Distribution Services was bought last year by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, is rolling out major reforms that will result in second-class post only being delivered on alternate weekdays with Saturday second-class deliveries scrapped.
The business had expected to expand the new model across all its 1,200 delivery offices by Christmas, after initial delays because of disagreements with the trade union.
Royal Mail has so far completed the changes in just under 1,100 delivery offices, with another 15 included by November 2, but will wait until January 11 for the reforms to be applied in the final 107 offices across the UK.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham last week told Royal Mail to improve its performance and warned the Government would take “further measures” after repeatedly missing delivery targets.
The Communication Workers Union also earlier this month called for an emergency summit on Royal Mail’s future, claiming the organisation was “on the brink of collapse”.
Royal Mail insisted its reforms were starting to bear fruit, but said the latest delay was a “pragmatic approach” to allow it to “maintain the momentum behind one of the biggest operational changes in its history, while keeping focus firmly on delivering a successful Christmas for customers”.
Alistair Cochrane, chief executive of Royal Mail, said: “We have now deployed our new delivery model in around 90% of delivery offices and are starting to see the benefits for customers.
“First-class quality of service has improved by 9%, and offices operating under the new delivery model are delivering to around 95% of addresses each day on average, compared with 88% before rollout began.
“There is still more to do, but the progress we are seeing gives us confidence that the new delivery model will continue to ensure more reliable, efficient and sustainable deliveries for our customers,” he added.
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