Royal Mail announces plans to cut up to 2,500 jobs
The company aims to reduce head office and support roles by the end of 2027 to improve efficiency amid falling letter volumes.
The company aims to reduce head office and support roles by the end of 2027 to improve efficiency amid falling letter volumes.
Royal Mail has announced plans to reduce its workforce by up to 2,500 head office and support roles by the end of 2027. The company is implementing this restructure to improve efficiency amid falling letter volumes and high competition.
According to Royal Mail, the reductions will be concentrated on roles within support functions and head office. Frontline postal workers, such as drivers and posties, are not part of the proposed cuts. The company intends to achieve the reductions through voluntary redundancies, natural attrition, and people choosing to leave.
Alistair Cochrane, chief executive of Royal Mail, said: 'These proposed changes remove duplication and allow us to invest further in the service we deliver for our customers.'
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) stated that approximately 200 of its members in administration and revenue protection will be affected. Martin Walsh, deputy general secretary of the CWU, said: 'We urge the government to confront the reality of a collapsing Royal Mail and intervene to save this national institution.'
Unite expressed that the cuts would not improve the quality of service and suggested further cuts are likely unless the government and Ofcom address competition from gig economy services. Sharon Graham, Unite's general secretary, said: 'These devastating job losses have been directly caused by years of inaction, without urgent action, this will happen again.'
The restructure comes as letter volumes have declined by more than 70% since their peak. A decade ago, 20bn letters were delivered, compared to 6.7bn currently. Volumes are projected to reach 4bn within four years.
As part of an improvement plan, Royal Mail is committing £500m to be spent over a five-year period. The company expects to finish rolling out a new delivery model across 1,200 offices by Christmas. It also recently announced it would hire 22,000 temporary workers for the seasonal period.
The company has faced criticism for slow deliveries and has been fined £37m since 2023 for missing delivery targets. While the target for on-time first class letter delivery is 93%, the percentage of first class letters delivered on time in the year to end of March was 75%.
Royal Mail is owned by EP Group, which completed a takeover of the parent company International Distribution Services last year at a cost of £3.6bn. The company is required to fulfil the Universal Service Obligation to deliver letters six days a week to every UK address, though it has called for reform. Ofcom recently allowed reforms that permit the delivery of second-class letters on every other weekday. Royal Mail aims to meet Ofcom delivery targets by May 2027.