The Royal Mail today issued an update on 117 postcodes which are being hit by severe disruption. The national delivery service said anyone living there could not be guaranteed deliveries of parcels or letters on 6 days a week.
The huge level of disruption means that people are not guaranteed to get deliveries in time for Christmas. The latest list shows 117 postcodes are flagged as suffering from the problems.
The issues arose even though Royal Mail hired about 20,000 extra workers to help transport, sort and deliver mail over the busy festive season.
The Royal Mail said: “We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week. In a small number of local offices, this may temporarily not be possible due to local issues such as high levels of sick absence, resourcing, or other local factors. In those cases, we will rotate deliveries to minimise the delay to individual customers. We also provide targeted support to those offices to address their challenges and restore our service to the high standard our customers would normally receive.
“We’re sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.” The issues at Christmas follow an admission last month that Royal Mail delivered less than three-quarters of first-class mail on time over recent months.
The delivery giant said 73.4% of first class post was delivered the next working day between June 20 and September 28. It also reported that 90.4% of second class mail was delivered within three working days.
The latest quality of service report shows a declining performance since its annual results.
Royal Mail was fined £21 million by regulator Ofcom for missing its mail delivery targets for the 2024-25 financial year. During the year, it had delivered 77% of first class mail and 92.5% of second class mail on time.
This was short of its respective 93% and 98.5% targets. Royal Mail said it was taking action to improve the reliability of its services, including by hiring more staff and supporting its delivery offices.
It is also preparing to introduce changes that will see it scrap second class deliveries on Saturdays and switch the service to every other weekday.
It has been running pilots for the new delivery model and is aiming to continue rolling it out from early next year.
Royal Mail’s chief operating officer Jamie Stephenson said: “Reliable deliveries really matter to our customers, and they matter to us too.
“We’re taking targeted action to improve performance – recruiting more frontline staff, simplifying operations and investing in a new delivery model, with early pilots already showing measurable results.”
He added that its team was “working hard to make sure every item arrives on time and with care”.
Full list of postcodes hit by delays
Aboyne SUDO (AB34)
Altens DO (AB10, AB11, AB12 and AB35)
Ashington DO (NE22, NE62, NE63 and NE64)
Barry DO (CF62 and CF63)
Belfast West DO (BT10, BT11, BT12 and BT17)
Bingham DO (NG12 and NG13)
Bristol East DO (BS5)
Brixton DO (SW2)
Callington DO (PL17 and PL18)
Canvey Island DO (SS8)
Clevedon DO (BS21 and BS49)
Dundee East DO (DD4, DD5 and DD7)
Dunstable DO (LU5 and LU6)
Dursley DO (GL11, GL12 and GL13)
Dyce DO (AB21)
Egremont DO (CA21, CA22, CA23, CA24, CA25 and CA27)
Erskine DO (PA7 and PA8)
Glasgow G52 DO (G52 and G53)
Glenrothes DO (KY6 and KY7)
Gloucester North DO (GL3 and GL4)
Inverclyde DO (PA14, PA15, PA16, PA17, PA18 and PA19)
Johnstone DO (PA5, PA6, PA9, PA10 and PA12)
Kettering DO (NN14, NN15 and NN16) 60
Kingswood DO (BS15 and BS30)
Lichfield DO (WS7, WS13 and WS14)
Lisburn DO (BT26, BT27 and BT28)
Londonderry DO (BT47 and BT48)
Medway Valley DO (ME6, ME18, ME19 and ME20)
Northfield DO (B31)
Northwich DO (CW8 and CW9)
Nottingham South DO (NG2 and NG12)
Paisley DO (PA1, PA2 and PA3)
Plympton DO (PL7)
Pontefract DO (WF7, WF8, WF9 and WF11)
Renfrew DO (PA4)
Seaham DO (SR7)
Sleaford DO (NG34)
St Helens DO (WA9, WA10 and WA11)
Stalybridge SUDO (SK15)
Thornbury DO (BS35)
Tipton DO (DY4)
Warrington DO (WA1, WA2, WA4, WA5 and WA55)
Wellington DO (TA21)
Westhill DO (AB13, AB14 and AB32)
Whitehaven DO (CA18, CA19, CA20, CA26 and CA28)
Whitwood DO (WF6 and WF10)
Wigan DO (WN1, WN2, WN3, WN4, WN5 and WN6) 57
