Tag: Royal Mail

Adam Crozier, the Royal Mail chief executive, yesterday insisted that management attempts to shake up the Post Office had not “destroyed” it but admitted they had led to some difficulties. The former Football Association boss was forced to defend the organisation as it came under fire from MPs of all parties at a Commons trade and industry select committee meeting. Mr Crozier admitted being shaken by a recent Channel 4 Dispatches programme highlighting criminality and other failings inside the Post Office but said a range of initiatives had been introduced to deal with this. Three big “change programmes” implemented at the same time had put the Royal Mail under stress. Failed letter delivery targets came along with a return to profit and other successes, he said.

An inquiry has been launched by MPs into the deterioration of postal services in Britain. The trade and industry select committee has requested Royal Mail’s three most senior bosses to appear before them today to explain why deliveries have worsened. Chairman Allan Leighton, Chief Executive Adam Crozier and Operations Director Tom Melvin will be questioned about their implementation of a restructuring plan which involved eliminating the second delivery of the day and has been responsible for a decrease in service quality since Christmas.

Royal Mail has given pounds 5m to its workers in a morale-boosting campaign, most of which has been used to buy wide-screen TVs and other perks in the company’s offices. The scheme, First Line Fixed, was introduced by Royal Mail’s chairman, Allan Leighton, last year. The money has been spent on a range of goods aimed at improving working conditions. A Royal Mail spokesman defended the First Line scheme and confirmed it would be repeated. “This was part of Allan Leighton’s plans to make offices great places to work, and we listened to what individual staff wanted. By far the majority [of purchases] were to improve offices, and if wide-screen TVs improve morale, that’s what it is for.”