Royal Mail has announced that 117 postcodes across the UK are experiencing significant delivery disruptions, raising concerns that parcels and letters may not arrive in time for Christmas. The affected areas include parts of the North East, among others.
The postal operator stated that it aims to deliver to all addresses six days a week, but local issues such as high sick absence, resourcing problems, or other factors have temporarily prevented this in some offices. Royal Mail is rotating deliveries to minimise delays and providing targeted support to affected offices.
This disruption comes despite Royal Mail hiring approximately 20,000 additional staff for the festive period. The company recently reported that only 73.4% of first-class mail was delivered on time between June and September, falling short of its 93% target. Second-class performance was 90.4%, below the 98.5% goal.
Regulator Ofcom fined Royal Mail £21 million for missing delivery targets in the 2024-25 financial year. The company is implementing measures to improve reliability, including recruiting more staff and trialling a new delivery model that will eliminate Saturday second-class deliveries from early next year.
Royal Mail's chief operating officer, Jamie Stephenson, said: 'Reliable deliveries really matter to our customers, and they matter to us too. We're taking targeted action to improve performance.'
