MP for Oxford East, Anneliese Dodds is demanding Royal Mail do more to improve their delivery record in Oxford after new data shows they are falling well below target.
Anneliese Dodds said: “Royal Mail are supposed to be delivering 91.5% of all first-class mail by the next working day. They are consistently falling well below this mark. The last time Royal Mail actually met this target in Oxford was 2019/20.”
“I regularly receive complaints from residents across Oxford East who are suffering delays in their receiving post – 186 alone over the last 18 months! For many this can be extremely disruptive – causing people to miss vital hospital appointments, invitations to weddings and funerals, important work- and business-related post and family communications like birthday cards, not to mention repeatedly receiving time-limited publications very late.”
The latest Quality of Service Report from Royal Mail shows that just 52.7% of first-class letters in Oxford were delivered the next working day in quarter three of 2023[i]. This had fallen from 69% in quarter one of last year.
The same Quality of Service Report shows that Royal Mail similarly failed to meet its quality-of-service targets in all 121 postcodes across the UK.
The latest Annual Monitoring Report from regulator Ofcom shows a similar picture, with just 67.5% of first-class letters delivered within one working day in 2022/23[ii].
Anneliese Dodds MP continued: “I have visited the East Oxford sorting office a number of times to discuss with staff and management how they can improve the service they provide in Oxford East, and have written to Royal Mail and to Government ministers about broader issues including late collection times, the reported prioritisation of parcels over mail, and the severe delays to people receiving important documents.”
“I do want to make clear that I believe that local staff have been doing all they can to improve the service; indeed, it is our postmen and -women who understand how services really can be improved. To that end, I have continually urged national Royal Mail to listen to what their workforce are saying about what could be done to improve things.”