Ofcom under fire for failing to improve dire Royal Mail service as more than a quarter of
The regulator Ofcom has come under fire for failing to improve the ‘unacceptable’ performance of Royal Mail.
A report by MPs on the Business and Trade Committee into the postal service found that Ofcom, which has been the watchdog for the Royal Mail since 2011, had failed to get a grip of the postal service’s poor performance.
Between April 2025 and January 2026, Royal Mail delivered just 74.9 per cent of first-class letters on time, according to the report – 18.1 per cent below the target of 93 per cent. This meant 126 million were delivered late.
Some 10 per cent of adults or around 10.7million missed vital letters, including those about health appointments, fines and benefit decisions.
And in 2025, 16million adults, or 29 per cent of adults, experienced letter delays over Christmas, a 50 per cent increase from 2024.
Liam Byrne MP, chair of the committee, said: ‘Millions of people are paying the price for a postal service that is simply not delivering.
‘Hospital appointments missed, benefit decision notices delayed, fines arriving too late to challenge: these are not minor inconveniences, and they are the consequences of a national service failing to meet the standards the public has every right to expect.’
Snail mail: The report found that a significant number of first-class letters arrived late
The committee also said it was ‘deeply concerned’ about a lack of an investigation into whether letters were being deprioritised in favour of parcels – which make more profit.
The report found that Ofcom failed to inspect Royal Mail facilities to check this.
Royal Mail carries out 100 ‘unannounced self-audits’ – leading the committee to conclude that it appeared to ‘be more rigorous in policing itself than its statutory regulator’.
The committee set Ofcom a deadline of six months to prove it could effectively regulate Royal Mail.
The postal service has been fined repeatedly since 2022 for failing to meet its own mandated targets.
Parcel firms profit from Royal Mail’s network
The report also found that parcel delivery competitors such as Amazon, Hermes or DPD were able to use Royal Mail services to deliver their packages to remote locations that would be unprofitable to deliver to.
It said Royal Mail bears the cost of servicing remote locations while ‘competitors hive off profits from that same network’.
It added that the Government needed to step in to stop competitors from undercutting Royal Mail through ‘gig-economy’ models where drivers are self-employed and paid per parcel.
Byrne added: ‘Despite years of fines and missed targets, Royal Mail’s performance remains unacceptable and Ofcom has failed to drive the change that is needed at the pace that is needed.
‘The universal service remains one of Britain’s great civic guarantees. But confidence in it is ebbing away, and Ofcom now has six months to prove it has the power and drive to regulate the 21st-century postal market.’
Ofcom hit back against the report’s findings, however. A spokesperson said: ‘As we made clear in our evidence to the committee, Ofcom has acted decisively – not only by using the full extent of our enforcement powers to fine Royal Mail more than £37 million for its poor performance, but also demanding a credible improvement plan from the company, backed by investment.
‘The real issue at hand is Royal’s Mail’s ability to get on and deliver against its improvement plan, which has been a long time coming. Having finally struck an agreement with its Union on modernising its operations, underpinned by a commitment to invest £500 million, Royal Mail now needs to urgently implement its promised reforms.’
Tom MacInnes, director of policy at Citizens Advice, added: ‘These findings are a damning indictment of the issues we’ve been sounding the alarm on for years – unacceptable letter delays, rising stamp prices and a regulator that has failed to get a grip on Royal Mail’s continuous poor service.
‘Ofcom can’t continue as a bystander and instead, needs to completely overhaul the way it oversees the postal market. The regulator must put a stop to Royal Mail hiking stamp prices until it proves it can consistently hit its new lower targets. Those who rely on the country’s postal service can’t afford another improvement plan that fails to deliver.’
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