Postal regulator needs to deliver the goods (UK)

Postcomm is seeking a new chief executive for November, when Sarah Chambers, the incumbent and a career civil servant, ends her four-year term.

But what sort of job will the successful applicant take over? I hear whispers of some sort of reorganisation that is under consideration to create a “super-regulator” to transfer some of Postcomm’s responsibilities across to Ofcom, which at present oversees only the Royal Mail’s broadband activities.

“This is entirely a matter for the Government,” Ofcom insists.

Postcomm says that there is no change to the job specifications as they are advertised, which call for “a forward-thinking CEO … at a time when the postal market is undergoing profound change”. My informant insists whoever gets the top Postcomm job “is not going to be head-to-head with Allan Leighton [the Royal Mail chairman].”