Royal Mail to allow part-time posties to work more to improve service

Part-time Royal Mail postal workers will be allowed to work longer hours in an effort to improve its service after criticism from the government and the regulator.

Royal Mail says it will invest £500m over the next five years on a series of measures including giving posties more familiar routes as it attempts to deliver more post on time.

Ofcom, the official watchdog, agreed to relax Royal Mail's delivery targets this month, but Royal Mail has failed to meet those lower target levels, according to its latest figures.

Royal Mail told BBC Breakfast it would take five to six months to implement its plans and that delivery targets would be met in a year's time.

Its improvement measures also include investment to manage sickness absences and targeted support for the worst-performing delivery offices.

Additionally, low-priority second class and other non-first class posts will be delivered every other weekday instead of daily. Parcels will still be delivered Monday to Saturday.

Its plans have been approved by the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) subject to a members' vote.

Postal workers across the UK have previously told BBC Your Voice that they are being asked to move or hide mail from senior bosses so it looks like delivery targets are being met.

Dave Ward, the general secretary of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU), said on Tuesday that Royal Mail staff "welcome any plan that reverses the chaos that posties have seen".

But he told BBC Breakfast that the company does not have "a great track record in sticking to their promises".

"The issue really is: will the company actually allow posties to have the tools for the job?

"Can we fully resource offices? Can we keep staff? We've not been able to do that in recent times. And also, will they allow the postie to actually use their expertise and their knowledge to design the routes?"

Royal Mail's UK Operations Director, Ricky McAulay, said the plans were a "fundamental reset".

"It's what many other European postal administrations have already done," he told BBC Breakfast.

He said the universal service obligation to deliver letters six days a week was "outdated".

But he insisted that Royal Mail does not "systematically prioritise parcels over letters".