GCA’s media triumph on Ofcom’s RM service cuts

Regulator launches consultation as second-class delivery proposals slammed

 

Almost universal condemnation followed the announcement yesterday, 30 January, of industry watchdog Ofcom’s proposed changes to Royal Mail’s postal service which, if ratified, will see second-class deliveries cut to alternate days of Monday, Wednesday, Friday one week, Tuesday, Thursday the next, and not on Saturdays at all.

Gaining widespread media coverage across national newspapers, TV news programmes and radio stations galore, the GCA was quick off the mark to has ensure the greeting card community’s deep concerns about the mooted changes were received loud and clear.

Above: Media coverage of Ofcom’s proposals has not been favourable
Above: Media coverage of Ofcom’s proposals has not been favourable

Adding to the fight, the postal workers’ union CWU has called on Royal Mail and Ofcom to change tack with innovations, notably a tailored service for the greeting card industry and NHS, instead of constantly cutting back on letter deliveries.

In a press release issued by the GCA minutes after the announcement was made yesterday morning, CEO Amanda Fergusson set out the industry’s view, highlighting the planned trial of the new system in February: “While we welcome the clarity of the new consultative timetable and will engage proactively with Ofcom in the coming weeks, our members and their customers are dismayed that a reduction in delivery services for over a million consumers and small businesses is being railroaded ahead of the consultation.”

She added there is deep concern “that these changes will stifle economic growth leaving businesses and customers paying more for less,” saying: “It’s clear Royal Mail expects this weakening of their delivery obligations to be nodded through by regulators without any parliamentary scrutiny.”

Ofcom claims the move, with the delivery cutbacks and keeping the cap on second-class stamp prices while allowing first-class mail to continue with six-day-a-week deliveries at any price Royal Mail decides so long as it’s the same across the UK, is to “safeguard” the universal service obligation while reforming it to “reflect what people need and protect its future” – the full report can be read here.

It estimates the change will enable Royal Mail to achieve annual net cost savings of between £250-£425million, which “could enable it to improve reliability and redeploy existing resources to growth areas such as parcels”.

Above: Posties deliver across the UK whatever the weather
Above: Posties deliver across the UK whatever the weather

The news has been widely covered across the media yesterday and today with the GCA, supported by publishers and retailers, ensuring the greetings community’s opinions received a strong airing as national newspapers such as the Daily Mail and many regional ones as well as BBC, ITV, Sky and LBC TV and radio stations were keen to share the card industry’s views.

It was an early start for Amanda and Earlybird’s Heidi Early appearing on Radio 5 Live’s Nicky Campbell breakfast show yesterday, with Radio 4 and Radio 2 both using quotes from the GCA CEO. Thortful MD Pip Heywood was on ITV news, GCA vice-president and Paper Salad owner Karen Wilson featured on the Manchester World website, council member and Cardology co-owner David Falkner was on the London World website, Grace Jackson Design’s Grace Jackson was featured in the Peterborough Telegraph, and Raspberry Blossom’s Rebecca Green, also a council member, was on Warwickshire World.

Council member Wendy Jones-Blackett, founder of the eponymous publisher, appeared on BBC’s Wake Up To Money show this morning, with her interview, which can be heard here, also heard across the BBC’s 50-plus local and regional radio stations.

During the Radio 5 Live call-in show, Communication Workers’ Union general secretary Dave Ward – part of whose comments can be seen in the reel below – pushed the fact it’s not a done deal yet as Ofcom is again consulting with the public on its plans and has promised to take the feedback into account for its final decision.

And he asked: “Why can’t Royal Mail have a tailored service, a special service for the NHS? Why can’t we give the greeting card industry a tailored service if Royal Mail priced its products properly, and if the regulator allowed Royal Mail to be innovative?”

While letter volumes have slumped from 20billion two decades ago to 6.6bn a year now, Dave put at least part of the blame on Royal Mail, saying first class should not be £1.65 and adding: “I think the company have pursued a pricing strategy which is designed to accelerate that decline.”

Amanda explained how the greetings industry contributes £1.5billion to the economy each year – and rising – and mentioned the petition asking for parliament to review these suggested changes, and she supported the union’s ideas for expanding Royal Mail’s services, as did Heidi, co-owner of publisher Earlybird Designs and the Stoke Newington indie store.

Above: Radio 5 Live’s Nicky Campbell (centre) heard from the GCA’s Amanda Fergusson and CWU’s Dave Ward
Above: Radio 5 Live’s Nicky Campbell (centre) heard from the GCA’s Amanda Fergusson and CWU’s Dave Ward

Heidi added: “I hear from customers on a daily basis who were saying they would send more cards if it was more affordable – £1.65 has been an absolute shocker, and has really made people stop and think, and they don’t trust the service. They don’t think their cards are going to be delivered on time.

“It makes them think about whether they do actually send cards – we promoted second-class post in the run up to Christmas in our shop, because we wanted people to be able to afford to send their Christmas cards and now Royal Mail is saying they’re going to change that anyway, so it’s really going to be even more unreliable.

“I do feel that Royal Mail is going with its own narrative, it’s self-perpetuating. The service is not reliable, the price has become unaffordable so, of course, people aren’t going to send as much post.”

Presenter Nicky also introduced a postman who explained how he’d just left Royal Mail after three years because he didn’t agree with the decline in service caused by the way parcels are prioritised – even though the company denies that – while piles of letters build up in the sorting office.

And the former postie, who called himself Philip, told of being part of the community and how, in the run-up to Christmas, he’d helped an elderly resident not able to use the computer system who’d asked where her mail was as she was expecting important papers.

Above & top: Second class mail won’t be appearing through the letter box very often
Above & top: Second class mail won’t be appearing through the letter box very often

Philip said: “So I went back to the office, and dug through boxes and boxes of mail to eventually find that bit of mail, and I took it around to her personally after I finished work, because I knew how much she was relying upon it. And it’s those little things that the posties do. They go above and beyond to their communities.”

Although the regulator called on Royal Mail to “invest in its network, become more efficient and improve its service levels in both parcels and letters”, instead of hauling the company up over its failure for the past two years to meet its legal delivery target obligations Ofcom’s proposals include lowering those expectations from 93% to 90% of first-class mail to be delivered the next day, and a cut from 98.5% to 95% of second-class letters arriving within three days.

The company was handed a £10.3million fine in December by Ofcom because it only managed 74.7% and 92.7% respectively, not a substantial improvement on the 2023-2024 performance, where the levels were 73.7% and 90.7% and a £5.6m penalty was imposed.

While Ofcom did state: “In recent years, Royal Mail’s delivery performance has not been good enough,” the regulator then compared its suggested obligations to European levels, saying they “remain high” against Germany’s three-day target at 95%, Spain at 93% and Norway and Poland only 85%.

And it is proposing new “backstop” targets to “ensure that, even if letters miss the primary target, consumers have confidence that they will arrive in a reasonable period of time”, which come in 99.5% of first-class mail having to be delivered within three days of posting, and the same level of second-class letters must arrive within five days.

Ofcom said: “Our research suggests that affordability and reliability are now more important to people than speed of delivery.

Above: Royal Mail’s Emma Gilthorpe has welcomed Ofcom’s proposals
Above: Royal Mail’s Emma Gilthorpe has welcomed Ofcom’s proposals

“People have told us that most letters are not urgent. However, eight in 10 (78%) value having a next-day service available for when they need to send the occasional urgent item, and a similar proportion (82%) value being able to send something for the same price anywhere in the UK.

“On average, UK households spend just 60p per week on postal services – 0.11% of their weekly outgoings. However, nine in 10 (90%) say it is important to have an affordable option available.

“These new targets address the issue many people have experienced where letters have taken weeks to arrive. Many other countries have introduced secondary targets like this.”

Royal Mail chief executive Emma Gilthorpe said: “Ofcom has recognised the urgent need for change so the future of the universal service can be protected for all. Our proposal was developed after speaking to thousands of people across the country and is designed to preserve what matters most for our customers – maintaining a one-price-goes-anywhere service to 32million UK addresses and first-class deliveries six days a week.”

The proposals come from the consultation launched by Ofcom in early 2024, following Royal Mail’s ongoing bid to change the terms of the USO, under which it must deliver letters to every address across the UK six days a week for the same price and parcels on five days – although parcels are currently being delivered on at least six days.

Originally Royal Mail, which is in the process of being bought with its parent company International Delivery Services (IDS) by Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group, wanted to scrap all Saturday letter deliveries but that would require a change in the law, so it suggested keeping first class to meet that obligation, along with the every-other-day second-class plan.

Above: Birthday cards arriving on a weekend may be a thing of the past
Above: Birthday cards arriving on a weekend may be a thing of the past

A pilot scheme has already been announced to be trialled at 37 of its 1,200 delivery officers across the UK in February and now Ofcom has supported this plan with its proposals, which are subject to another public consultation.

Anyone can respond to the consultation, the deadline is 5pm on 10 April, 2025, and Ofcom says it will publish its decision in the summer, with any changes to the existing rules due to come into effect on the same day.

In response to Ofcom’s proposals, Amanda said: “The announcements will leave greeting card lovers everywhere dependent on an unregulated expensive first-class stamp for the cards they are posting to loved ones that need to arrive at a weekend is hugely concerning for our industry.

“Many consumers rely on the regulated second-class postage, currently 85p, to send cards – Ofcom says reductions in that service to every other weekday, can be made without approval from MPs. It’s now time for MPs to get involved and stop this further spiral of decline which could ultimately result in Royal Mail calling time on an affordable second-class stamp and increase costs for businesses and consumers alike.”

She said this highlights the importance of the GCA’s petition to parliament on the matter: “We are asking for a parliamentary review of any changes to our 509-year-old postal service. Please sign and share our petition – we need to get to 10,000 signatures to force the government to respond to it. We’d love to get to 100,000 then it will have to be considered for debate by MPs. We know from the media the strength of consumer feeling about this across the country.”

The GCA’s petition, which this morning, 31 January, now has 5,500 signatures, can be accessed here, with more details on the association’s website.

Above: The GCA petition can be scanned through this QR code
Above: The GCA petition can be scanned through this QR code
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