Royal Mail

Monday 8th June 2026 Lords Chamber

Question

14:57

Asked by

[Lord Sikka]

To ask His Majesty’s Government in which years since its privatisation Royal Mail has fully met its first class and second class letter delivery targets; and what assessment they have made of its performance in this period.

[The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury (Lord Stockwood) (Lab)]

My Lords, Ofcom sets and monitors the Royal Mail’s quality of service targets and publishes annual performance data. Following its privatisation in 2013, Royal Mail fully met its first-class and second-class delivery targets in 2013-14, 2014-15, 2016-17 and 2019-20. Royal Mail met its second-class target, but not its first-class target, in 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2018-19. Royal Mail failed to meet both targets in all years from 2021-22 to 2025-26. The Government’s assessment is that performance has been unacceptable and must improve, and we will continue to engage with Ofcom and Royal Mail accordingly.

[Lord Sikka (Lab)]

My Lords, Royal Mail is another disastrous privatisation. Since privatisation, the price of a first-class letter has increased by 200% and second-class by 89%. As the Minister just said, Royal Mail has not met its delivery targets for years, and Ofcom continues to lower the targets; second-class mail is now to be delivered only every other day and not at all on Saturdays. Ofcom has clearly failed. It seems that the Government have two options: either to restructure Ofcom or to bring Royal Mail into common ownership. Which option will the Government exercise?

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

In preparation for this Question, I spoke to both the CEO of Royal Mail and directors of Ofcom. For context, it is worth stating that letter volumes have halved in the last 10 years, while the number of addresses has increased significantly. While I agree with my noble friend that performance has not been where it needs to be, there is a quality of service plan that has been negotiated between Ofcom and Royal Mail, and indeed, this year, Royal Mail is above the targets that it set for itself to meet those aggressive performance targets by March of next year. Some £500 million of additional investment has been committed, and there was an agreement with the CWU to ensure that the employment practices are sustainable for the commitments to improvements and services. So, while I agree with my noble friend that the current performance is not where it could be, the CEO of Royal Mail made commitments early last week that he is confident that it will meet the targets by April of next year.

[Lord Pack (LD)]

My Lords, one of the significant problems faced by Royal Mail staff in trying to reach those targets is the very large number of physical attacks by dogs on postal staff—over 2,000 incidents every year. This problem is, unfortunately, made worse by the very poor design of many letterboxes, which means that you cannot safely deliver a letter without putting your fingers at risk from an angry dog’s teeth. What work are the Government doing with the relevant interested parties to ensure that the standard of letterboxes is improved and that postal staff can do their work in safety in future?

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

I will have to refer this back to the Ofcom regulators. I had not prepared for a question on letterboxes, unfortunately, but I will write to the noble Lord giving him an update.

[Lord Redwood (Con)]

Is not the financial performance of Royal Mail so much better than that of the nationalised Post Office, with Royal Mail requiring no subsidy from taxpayers and the Post Office sending colossal bills for big losses and for damaging treatment of staff who require compensation?

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

These are early stages in the privatisation of Royal Mail. The new owner, EP Group, shows an encouraging commitment to improving the services and conditions of work for all employees, but it is too early to say. The Question was about performance of second-class and first-class mail, and that we can commit to. The investors are committed to an improvement programme to get us to where we need to be.

[Baroness Prosser (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a former member of the board of Royal Mail. I understand people’s frustration and anger, but this is a global problem. Every developed country is suffering from a reduction in the number of pieces of mail being delivered and sent through the post while still requiring the infrastructure to deal with that smaller number and that smaller income. Do the Government have any plans to bring together Royal Mail and its foreign equivalents in other developed countries to see what answers can be found to this global problem?

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

Currently, we are focused on improving the performance of Royal Mail in the UK through Ofcom and through direct conversations with Royal Mail. My colleague, Minister McDougall, meets with his counterparts in Royal Mail and Ofcom on a regular basis. However, I take my noble friend’s question seriously. It is important that we encourage the provider to speak to its foreign counterparts to ensure that there is a solution that is met. We are currently engaging with the EU on a number of issues, but this is something that we should get to in short order as well.

[Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate (Con)]

My Lords, while there are delays in post being received, a considerable number of people are concerned at the amount of post that appears to be mislaid or lost or never even arrives at its destination. Has the Minister got any statistics on that which he can give us any information about?

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

There is regular analysis of overall delivery rates, including for mail that is waylaid. There are some innovative solutions within the universal service offering. For example, one of the questions that came up was about NHS letters, which are critical and must be delivered on time. There has been a technological solution involving barcodes that can ensure that those letters get prioritised when there is high demand and pressure on the service. I believe that the investor and Royal Mail are looking at innovative solutions to ensure that they meet their targets across the whole system.

[Lord Woodley (Lab)]

My Lords, I know from personal experience that urgent letters, particularly those associated with hospital appointments, are not getting through in time. Have the Government made any assessment of the devastating effect that this is having on healthcare in our country?

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

As I said in my previous answer, this was highlighted as an issue to the new investor. The Royal Mail has introduced a barcode system to optimise the delivery of NHS letters at times of local and national disruption, but it is beholden on all NHS bodies and providers to use this system. I ask all Members of the House to encourage their local NHS, where they interact with senior leadership, to take up this service. It is a technological solution that can prioritise those urgent and critical letters from the NHS, and this should provide certainty that the delivery will get there and not be in jeopardy.

[Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)]

I will start by congratulating the Minister on the hard work he has carried out in preparing for this Question, and in particular the discussions he has been having with Royal Mail. However, does he not accept that, by increasing national insurance contributions, which I reckon adds around £120 million to the costs of one of Britain’s largest and most labour-intensive employers, the Government have made it significantly harder for Royal Mail to restore service standards, maintain the universal service obligation and invest in those improvements that customers and businesses expect?

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

I appreciate the comment on my hard work—it is now noted. I cannot agree with the noble Lord on that particular point. It is unfair to think about an individual tax application on the investment in this specific case. There is £500 million of committed capital from the new investor, EP Group, and that is a non-trivial undertaking that has been committed on an £8 billion business. At the moment, we are proud, as a Labour Government, that we are shoring up the fiscal rules and the economic prospects of this country, so that we can invest in the public services that we rightly believe we need to.

[Earl Russell (LD)]

My Lords, I want to ask the Minister about future access to Post Office counter services now contained in TGJones stores. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that those counters are not closed, particularly in deprived urban areas and rural areas, and are the Government considering requiring minimum coverage standards?

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

It is really important not to conflate Royal Mail delivery and the Post Office, but Ofcom is committed to the universal post offering and the targets, so I will have to write to the noble Lord on this particular question, because this was the extent of what I researched for this particular Answer.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

Does the noble Lord share my concern that perhaps the postal service and the Royal Mail are focusing too much on parcel delivery and not enough on a universal letters service that plays to elderly populations in rural areas? If we go fully digitalised and if we lose the postal service, it would be a very retrograde step for that group of people.

[Lord Stockwood (Lab)]

The noble Baroness raises a really important point about making sure the universal service offering is not to the detriment of people who are remote or not digital. Its CEO has confirmed that Royal Mail is focused on improving all aspects of its service across postage and parcels. The Government will be putting pressure on Ofcom to ensure that Royal Mail improves all its services without detriment to any particular user group.