UK Post Office: Postmasters have been the innocent victims of this faceless crime
UK Post Office can confirm that as of today (21 February 2023) all Royal Mail international services have been reinstated at Post Offices.
On 11 January 2023, Royal Mail confirmed to customers that a cyber incident had occurred. This consequently resulted in Post Offices being unable to handle international mail or parcels at its 11,500 branches. Domestic services were unaffected
On 19 January 2023, Post Offices were able to accept and sell postage for Letter and Large Letter sized items internationally through Royal Mail. This excluded the sending of goods internationally.
Today, 21 February 2023 following close work with Royal Mail since the incident first occurred all international services, including the sending of goods either via a letter or in a parcel, have been reinstated and can be sent from Post Offices.
Neill O’Sullivan, Post Office Managing Director Parcels and Mails, said: “Postmasters have been the innocent victims of this faceless crime, unable to support businesses and consumers wishing to use their expertise to get parcels sent abroad. For many small businesses, Post Offices are an integral part of their business set-up and this has been a challenging time for them too. We have worked day and night in partnership with Royal Mail to reinstate all international services via our branch network.”
Post Office is providing additional remuneration to Postmasters for handling international items at branches in the form of a new fixed payment for each transaction. In addition, for all Royal Mail international labels sold in branch during February and March, Post Office will pay additional commission on the value of each item.
Neill O’Sullivan continued: “These past weeks have been difficult for Postmasters who through no fault of their own have missed out on remuneration for providing international mails services. Postmasters are operating in a tough economic climate and this package of remuneration improvements should help rebuild their earnings from international parcels.”
