Royal Mail reveals plans to cut 700 jobs as part of cost-cutting measures
Royal Mail to axe 700 jobs: Delivery firm reveals plans to get rid of hundreds of management roles as part of cost-cutting measures after year of decade-high complaints
Royal Mail will make the job cuts as part of a restructuring to save £40m a yearBosses said they will enter negotiations with trade unions over proposed lossesThey said it was to ‘streamline’ service and ‘improve focus on local performance’It comes as the company faces a fine of more than £1million over delivery chaos
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Royal Mail has revealed plans to axe around 700 management jobs to try to cut costs in the latest blow for Britain’s postal service.
The company will make the sweeping redundancies as part of a restructuring to try to save £40million a year.
Bosses said they will enter negotiations with unions over the proposed losses, which are needed to ‘streamline operations’ and ‘improve focus on local performance’.
It comes after a disastrous few weeks for Royal Mail amid Covid staff absences and a pending £1million fine over delivery chaos.
The company said services had been hit due to 15,000 employees being off work in early January due to the spread of Omicron.
Meanwhile the firm faces the huge fine due to delivery issues that saw hundreds of thousands of families suffer weeks of delays.
The company will make the redundancies as part of a huge restructuring to try to save £40million a year (file photo)
CEO Simon Thompson said: ‘We have today entered into formal consultation on a management reorganisation to further streamline our operations and, at the same time, improve focus on local performance.
‘We are committed to conducting the process sensitively, working closely with our people and their representatives.
‘We have a track record of delivering change through natural turnover, redeployment and voluntary redundancy wherever possible.’
He added: ‘With the rise of Omicron, absence has been around twice pre-Covid levels, with around 15,000 staff off sick or isolating in early January. Thankfully, this is now improving.
‘We are resolutely focused on addressing these issues which have affected our service in some parts of the country.
‘Year to date we have spent more than £340 million on overtime, additional temporary staffing and sick pay, as well as providing targeted support for the offices most impacted.’
Royal Mail was one of the big winners from the coronavirus crisis, with a huge surge in online shopping and deliveries.
But it revealed the high peaks of last year eased off over the Christmas period as more shops were open.
Bosses said that they are set to enter negotiations with trade unions over the proposed losses (file photo)
It led to falls of 4.9 per cent in parcel revenues and 7 per cent in volumes in the final three months of 2021.
Yet this was still well up compared with pre-pandemic levels, at 43.9 per cent in revenues and 33 per cent in volumes.
Meanwhile the firm faces a fine of more than £1million over delivery chaos that has seen hundreds of thousands of families suffer weeks of delays.
It confirmed today sorting and deliveries was being disrupted at 10 offices across the country.
These include many areas across London as well as the Home Counties, the south coast, Manchester, Yorkshire and Scotland.
Assuming an average of around 10,000 addresses per postcode district, up to 400,000 homes and businesses are affected.
Some have been suffering delays since before Christmas with customers complaining about medical results, appointment letters and even house move documents going missing.
Royal Mail blames staff absences caused by the Omicron virus strain. There are also suggestions that Covid samples and results are being prioritised.
The firm has to deliver 93 per cent of first-class post within one working day of collection, and 98.5 per cent of second-class post within three working days.
These rules do not apply in December and were dropped for part of the coronavirus pandemic.
Royal Mail was fined £1.5million for missing targets in 2018 and it appears on course for further penalties.
Regulator Ofcom said: ‘We know how important a reliable postal service is to customers, and we can take action if Royal Mail fails to meet our annual targets. We have made it clear to the company that it must improve.’
A petition to Royal Mail from residents of the SE22 postal district of London said: ‘For years East Dulwich, Dulwich Village and parts of Peckham Rye have suffered with a failing postal service.
‘This has led to many suffering with lost prescriptions, lost documentation, lost banking details, fraud and stress. We just want to get our mail on time.’
Royal Mail said it was providing ‘targeted support’ to local offices and apologised to customers.
