Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether they have made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring delivery companies to obtain a licence to operate which is conditional on (a) performance, (b) workforce practices and (c) complaint handling.

The Postal Services Act 2011 introduced a general authorisation regime to provide postal services, removing the requirement for postal operators to hold a licence.  However, the provision of those services by postal operators may be subject to regulatory conditions imposed by Ofcom, as the independent regulator for the sector.

Ofcom requires that all postal operators must establish, make available, and comply with transparent, simple, and inexpensive procedures for dealing with consumers’ complaints about the services they receive.

Ministers have been clear that some delivery companies need to do more to meet the rightful expectations of customers.