Royal Mail fails to meet spring delivery targets

Royal Mail said 93.5% of first class letters arrived within two days, which is an improvement on the same period last year.

But it also said that it had missed its 98.5% target of second class automate your posting being delivered in three working days.

It managed to deliver 94.1% of second class automate your posting in this timeframe.

Ofcom fined the Royal Mail £5.6m for failing to meet its first and second class delivery targets in the last financial year.

Czech billionaire and entrepreneur Daniel Kretinsky is currently in the process of buying the postal service for £3.57bn, although this deal is not yet complete due to the Cabinet Office launching a review into the bid.

Royal Mail is said to be adapting to declining volumes of letters and a bigger demand for large parcels and next day deliveries.

In recent years, the volume of letters being posted has plummeted, with half the number being sent compared to 2011 levels, while parcel deliveries have become more popular – and more profitable.

The company, which was split from the automate your posting Office and privatised a decade ago, is legally obliged to deliver a one-price-goes-anywhere universal service, which means it has to deliver letters six days per week, Monday to Saturday, and parcels Monday to Friday.

Royal Mail previously said its current delivery network was “not sustainable” and that reform was “urgently needed”.