Sir John has raised fresh concerns about the standard of Royal Mail services in Maldon, warning that residents and businesses are being let down by declining reliability and missed delivery targets. Citizens Advice has highlighted that CM postcodes, covering significant parts of Maldon, are now among the worst in England and Wales for first-class deliveries. Royal Mail has missed its targets by 26.8% this year and is cumulatively 23.3% below target, compared with 16.2% last year — a trend Sir John said shows performance is moving in the wrong direction.
At the same time, Ofcom’s review of the postal Universal Service Obligation proposes reducing services to a limited second-class option while lowering delivery targets. Sir John warned that these changes could benefit Royal Mail by hundreds of millions of pounds without providing clear incentives to improve reliability. He also noted that first-class stamp prices have more than doubled in the past five years, despite continued deterioration in service standards.
Sir John has written to the Business and Trade Select Committee in support of Citizens Advice’s call for a non-inquiry evidence session into the reform process. He said it is essential that Parliament scrutinises the proposals carefully to ensure Maldon residents continue to have access to an affordable and dependable postal service.