I have long been concerned with the poor standard of service from Royal Mail in my constituency and beyond. I will be hosting a residents’ meeting between 12:30pm and 1:30pm on Saturday 29th March to force Royal Mail to listen to our community and take urgent action. If you would like to come along, please email me and my team at anneliese.dodds.casework@parliament.uk.

Over 400 constituents have been in touch with me about Royal Mail’s failings since 2021. Local residents have missed hospital appointments, invitations to weddings and funerals, important work and business-related mail, and family communications like birthday cards. They also sometimes receive time-limited publications very late and receive mail for the wrong address.

It is unacceptable that this matter is still unresolved despite my numerous interventions since first raising this issue with Royal Mail in 2021. Numerous temporary fixes have been made over the years that have temporarily restored some order, but the underlying issues have remained.

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 I am hoping to do so again soon. This was even documented by BBC Panorama. I have also written to Royal Mail and Government ministers about broader issues, including last collection times, the reported prioritisation of parcels over mail, and the severe delays residents experience waiting for important documents. My office staff have had to deal with the serious consequences of these delays for vitally important documents.

I believe that local staff have been doing all they can to improve the service and that our postal workers understand how services can be improved. To that end, I have continually urged Royal Mail to listen to what their workforce is saying about what could be done to improve things, and I have met with local representatives of the postal workers’ union, the CWU. In their most recent reply, they have urged me to publicise the number of vacancies they have; they also pointed out a number of changes they have apparently made to routes and so on, which they say will help with delays.

This is an issue that I’ll keep pushing on. If you or anyone you know has been affected locally, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.