Postcomm confirms postcode penalty of £271,000

26 April 2006

Postcomm has confirmed a financial penalty of £271,000 on Royal Mail. The penalty follows Royal Mail’s contravention of its licence in 2004-05 in relation to poor performance in the following London postcode areas:  SE (intra and posted), E (intra) and WC (posted). The penalty is due to be paid on 14 June. Before confirming the penalty, Postcomm took account of representations from Royal Mail and other parties.

Notes for editors

The delivery targets against which Royal Mail consistently underperformed in the postcode areas are for:

  • “posted” mail – mail posted from one postcode area to another. In 2004/05, the performance target for this type of mail was for 91% of first class stamped and metered mail to reach its destination the next working day. (The target is now 91.5%)
  • “intra” mail – first class mail posted to an address within the same postcode area. The performance target here is 92.5%.

Postcomm’s report into Royal Mail’s postcode area performance was published on 10 February 2006. To access the report, follow this link:  "Royal Mail's quality of service performance: report on investigation by Postcomm into performance in seven postcode areas" (pdf, 832KB).