Royal Mail investigated again as almost a quarter of first-class mail arrives late

Royal Mail has not hit its Ofcom-mandated delivery target for first-class post since 2017. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Royal Mail has not hit its Ofcom-mandated delivery target for first-class post since 2017. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian Royal Mail investigated again as almost a quarter of first-class post arrives late Latest figures show the company’s delivery performance has worsened compared with the previous year Business live – latest updates The postal regulator has launched an investigation into Royal Mail for once again missing its annual delivery targets, with almost a quarter of first-class mail arriving late. The company, which has been fined £37m since 2023 for routinely failing to meet delivery targets set by Ofcom , revealed on Friday that 24.3% of first-class mail failed to arrive on time in the year to the end of March. The figures show that Royal Mail’s performance has worsened compared with the previous year, when 23.5% of first-class mail failed to arrive within the one-working-day target set by the regulator. Royal Mail invests £500m to tackle late deliveries as second-class post cut back Read more Under the watchdog’s rules, 93% of first-class mail must be delivered within one working day of collection, excluding Christmas. The latest delivery figures published by Royal Mail showed that it managed to deliver 90.2% of second-class mail within the three-working-day limit, well short of Ofcom’s target of 98.5%. In October, Ofcom fined Royal Mail £21m for missing annual delivery targets, the third-biggest financial penalty it has ever issued to any company. On Monday, Ofcom said that as part of its investigation it will look at whether Royal Mail is prioritising parcel delivery over letters, a practice which whistleblowers and unions have alleged but the company denies. “In deciding whether Royal Mail breached its regulatory obligations, we will consider all relevant factors,” Ofcom said. “This will include the question of parcel prioritisation, as well as identifying whether there were any exceptional events beyond the company’s control that may have affected its performance. Where we determine a breach of Royal Mail’s obligations during our investigation, we will consider whether to impose a financial penalty.” Royal Mail has not hit its Ofcom-mandated delivery target for first-class post since 2017, or for second-class mail since 2020. Last year, the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský completed a drawn-out £3.6bn purchase of Royal Mail’s owner, International Distribution Services (IDS), after the takeover was approved by a UK government national security review. In April, Royal Mail faced a barrage of criticism as it raised the price of a first-class stamp by 10p, or 6%, to £1.80. The cost of a first-class stamp has more than doubled since 2020. The cost of the second-class service rose by 4p, or 5%, to 91p. Royal Mail blamed the need for price increases on the “contin