EXCLUSIVE: MPs accused Royal Mail of not taking the delays seriously, leaving the public missing hospital appointments, court dates, or having late fees added to bills that simply didn’t come
Royal Mail was criticised over delays(Image: mikeinlondon/Getty)
Ofcom has been urged to take action against the Royal Mail over “repeatedly failing” to meet its delivery targets.
The company is expected to deliver 90% of First Class mail by next day, and 95% of Second Class mail within three working days, down from 98.5%, but only hit 85% of First Class mail and just over 90% of Second Class mail.
Now letters signed by more than 100 Labour MPs have been sent to the regulator, with a separate 99 writing to the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, urging them to step in.
MPs accused Royal Mail of not taking the delays seriously, leaving the public missing hospital appointments, court dates, or having late fees added to bills that simply didn’t come.
In the letter to Mr Reynolds, MPs said if Ofcom was unable to force the Royal Mail to improve, the regulator may need new powers to whip them into shape.
Labour MP Dave Robertson, who organised the letters, said: “Up and down the country, people are not getting essential post. Hospital appointments and court dates missed because letters never arrive. Late fees added to bills that have never been received. It’s just not good enough.
“Like so many Labour MPs, I’ve written to Royal Mail time and again. I’ve met with their senior leadership. Every time the answer is the same — nothing to see here. It shows complete disdain for the issues we all know our constituents are having.
“Ofcom need to force Royal Mail to admit the problem and fix it. And we’ve also written to the Secretary of State.
“We need to look at whether Ofcom has the powers it needs to get Royal Mail to act. All of our constituents deserve better.”
Royal Mail was privatised in October 2013, and earlier this year its billionaire owner denied the business is getting worse despite 220million late deliveries.
Labour MP Chris Bloore, who also organised the letter, said: “Postal workers know the problems but their concerns are ignored by senior management. Fines have not worked after three consecutive years of penalties and a fourth investigation now underway.
“Ofcom must stop tolerating excuses and exercise tougher oversight. If bosses do not improve, removing the royal charter must be on the table. Residents deserve a reliable postal service.”
In October 2025, Ofcom fined Royal Mail £21 million after failing to meet its delivery targets in 2024/25, fined it £10.5 million for failing to meet its obligations in 2023/24; and in November 2023 fined it £5.6 million.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We share the deep frustrations of MPs and their constituents with Royal Mail’s poor delivery performance, which hasn’t been good enough. We’re currently investigating the company’s failure to meet its latest targets, and have fined it more than £37 million in recent years.
“We also demanded that Royal Mail publish a credible improvement plan, backed by investment from its owners. In response, the company committed to return performance back to the regulated targets by April 2027, and to invest £500 million over the next five years. While Royal Mail is now making progress through its improvement plan, we will continue to hold it to account using the full extent of the powers available to us.”
Responding, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Our quality-of-service results are encouraging and show that the changes we are making are delivering real improvements for customers. First Class performance has risen significantly, with 85% of letters now delivered on time, compared to 76% a year ago.
“We acknowledge there is more to do and published our Improvement Plan in April which included a commitment to invest £500 million over five years. We are well over halfway through the rollout of our new delivery model across our 1,200 delivery offices which is continuing to see positive results – delivering to 98% of addresses every day, up from 91% before rollout. We expect our service levels to improve further as deployment continues.”
