Omicron impacts Royal Mail’s Q3 service levels

Royal Mail has reported that ‘the vast majority of mail’ in the quarter leading to 5 December was ‘delivered safely and on time’ – but service levels were impacted by the ongoing COVID pandemic.

In a statement issued today (18 February), Royal Mail reported that it delivered 93.8% of Second Class mail within three working days over the third quarter. It also delivered 76.8% of First Class mail the next working day with 92.5% delivered within two days.

At the peak of Omicron, said Royal Mail, absence levels were double what the company would normally expect to see at that time of the year pre-pandemic, with around 15,000 people off sick or self isolating.

Royal Mail added that as levels of absence have stabilised, its Quality of Service is also improving. During January, the company saw steady improvements in First Class performance, reaching 85.6% by the last week of the month – the highest level since July 2021.

Ricky McAulay, Operations Development Director, Royal Mail said: “It has been a challenging period and I would like to apologise to any of our customers who have experienced delays in their local areas recently. Improving service levels is our number one priority and having invested over £340 million on overtime, additional temporary staff, sick pay and targeted support for the offices most impacted, I’m pleased to say the situation is improving. I would like to thank our customers for their patience and of course our postmen and women for their continued hard work and dedication.”

The latest independent report on performance was published today on Royal Mail’s website at: https://www.royalmailgroup.com/customers/quality-service/quality-service-reports