LAST month in this column I asked for your help.
I’d been hearing from residents across the constituency about problems with Royal Mail: missing hospital appointment letters, court documents and benefit notices. Vital correspondence not turning up. And I asked you to contact me if you had further evidence of the Royal Mail in disarray.
You responded in numbers. Telling me of the health screening reminders that didn’t turn up and the missing business documents and invoices causing havoc to small businesses.
And it’s not just residents. I received no post to my constituency office in March until last week.
This is not a minor irritation. This is a national institution in crisis.
Royal Mail carries a universal service obligation, a legal duty to deliver letters to every address in the country, six days a week. That promise is being broken, every single day, in our communities and in communities like ours across Britain.
This week, as chair of the business and trade committee, I hauled in the new owner of Royal Mail, Daniel Kretínský, along with the chief executive, the Communication Workers Union and regulator Ofcom. We put them all in the same room and we demanded answers.
Why are parcels being prioritised over letters? Why are delivery rounds being left uncovered? What is the plan to restore the service that families and businesses depend on?
I’m glad that, under pressure, Royal Mail committed to publishing an improvement plan in the coming days. That’s a start. But a promise to publish a plan is not a plan. I’ll be scrutinising every word of it and reporting back to you here.
Not everyone banks online. Not everyone gets letters by email. Royal Mail isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a lifeline.
The regulator has powers to act if Royal Mail continues to breach its obligations. The government has the ability to set expectations. And parliament, through our committee, has the power to keep the pressure on. I intend to use every one of those levers until this service is fixed.
But I need your help to do it. Every case you share with me strengthens the case I’m making in Westminster.
If your post has gone missing. If you’ve missed an appointment, a benefit letter, a prescription reminder or a court document, please contact me at [email protected].
This is a national service. It needs to work for everyone. And I won’t stop until it does.
