Royal Mail to Explain Why Quality of Service Dropped

Royal Mail has been requested by Postcomm to demonstrate that industrial action last year, which saw mail pile up in delivery and sorting offices, was wholly the result of transformation plans, and that the industrial action only had caused a drop in quality of service. Royal Mail will present its case at an open meeting on May 14th.

Major stakeholders in the postal market have been invited to this event and given the opportunity to ask any questions they have about Royal Mail’s application; this will help ensure Postcomm has appropriately considered the views of all interested parties before it makes its decision.

In June 2007, Postcomm agreed Royal Mail’s request to suspend – until the end of the financial year – the payment of compensation to bulk mail customers, and to earn revenue that it would not otherwise be permitted to do (due to the ‘C factor’), where industrial action has taken place and quality of service figures have dropped.

Postcomm agreed to the request because it wished to ensure that Royal Mail was not discouraged from taking the steps needed to modernise its business – such modernisation would be to the benefit of all mail users.

Postcomm decided that prior to making any decision it would convene an open meeting at which Royal Mail would present the main points in its application. For it to be satisfied, Postcomm expects

Royal Mail has recently asked Postcomm to suspend the Bulk Mail Compensation Scheme and adjust the value of the C factor in the event of industrial action related to transformation activities in 2008/09.