Ofcom launches probe into Royal Mail over ongoing delivery failures

(Sharecast News) - Ofcom said on Monday that it has opened an investigation into Royal Mail following the delivery group's ongoing failure to meet agreed delivery targets, saying the company's performance "falls well short" of expectations. Royal Mail recently committed to invest £500m over the next five years to improve and streamline services, with the complete roll-out of a new delivery model expected by Christmas this year. The changes include delivery Second Class letters on alternate weekdays.

Royal Mail, which two decades ago was delivering 20bn letters a year, delivered just 6.5bn in 2025 with further declines expected over the coming years.

"Royal Mail has lost hundreds of millions of pounds in recent years, and so it must also become more efficient to meet these challenges," Ofcom said.

However, over its financial year ended March 2026, results of which were published last week, Royal Mail confirmed it delivered just 75.7% of First Class mail the next working day, well short of its previous target of 93%. Some 90.2% of Second Class mail was delivered within three working days, short of the 98.5% target.

From 1 April, Ofcom changed the First and Second Class targets to 90% and 95%, respectively, which Royal Mail will have to adhere to in the future, otherwise risk more fines following the £21m fine enforced respective of the 2024/25 financial year.

"A reliable postal service is vital to many people across the country," said Ian Strawhorne, enforcement director at Ofcom.

"We share the deep frustrations of customers who have missed important letters because of Royal Mail's consistent failure to improve its service over the years. While the company is now making progress through its improvement plan, we will continue to hold it to account for its unacceptable performance to date."