Royal Mail has missed its delivery targets for two consecutive years

The inquiry was launched by Ofcom after finding that over the last 12 months almost a quarter of first class deliveries and almost one in ten second class deliveries were late.

And that’s despite the fact that postal service bosses received a warning about late deliveries last year.

This was also reported The subway current delay rates are the worst since records began in 2007.

The investigation was welcomed by Citizen’s Advice, whose survey found that in the past month alone, more than six million people have experienced problems in their lives because of postal delays.

Ofcom said Royal Mail could no longer use the impact of Covid as an excuse for not meeting targets (Image: PA)

The organisation’s chief executive Matthew Upton said: “The poor service from Royal Mail is now business as usual.”

“We know the strain Royal Mail is under, but people need to be able to rely on their mail arriving on time, including important medical letters and urgent bills. Service outages that occur year after year have real consequences. It’s just not good enough.

What action could Ofcom take against Royal Mail?

Ofcom decided against a fine Royal Mail last year due to the impact of Covid, but reportedly said it could no longer use the pandemic as an “excuse” for disappointing customers.

Businesses can be fined up to 10% – around £800m – for breaching regulations Royal Mail‘s case.

Fines imposed for apparent violations this year are expected to be significantly lower, but still in a comfortable seven-figure range.

Grant McPherson, Chief Operating Officer of Royal Mailsaid: “Improving the quality of service is our top priority.

“We are committed to accelerating Royal Mail’s transformation and bringing the level of service back to the levels our customers have come to expect.”

“We are sorry for all customers who were affected by our performance during one of the most difficult years in our history.”

He added that he hopes to see some “progress” over the next few months as there are plans to increase service levels.