Royal Mail to cut thousands of jobs in sweeping overhaul
Royal Mail will cut as many as 2,500 jobs as part of a root-and-branch overhaul that the ailing postal service hopes will reduce its overheads at a time of dwindling usage and scrutiny over its delivery performance.
The group, which was bought off the London Stock Exchange by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky in 2024, unveiled plans for what it called a “significant transformation” of the business that would lead to a significant reduction of head office and support function roles.
The shake-up will take place between now and the end of 2027 and affect up to 2,500 jobs – less than two per cent of the service’s overall workforce, it said in an announcement. Frontline staff including postal delivery workers will not be affected, the statement added.
“We have been working hard to reduce costs and simplify processes across all areas of the business as we transform to win in a very competitive market,” chief executive Alistair Cochrane said. “These proposed changes remove duplication and allow us to invest further in the service we deliver for our customers.”
The job cuts are the first since Kretinsky, the billionaire European investor known as the Czech Sphinx, completed his £5.3bn acquisition Royal Mail last year. Since then, the group has shifted its focus to an emphasis on parcels amid a sharp decline in letter deliveries and a volley of public criticism over its delivery track record.
The volume of letters the service processes has plummeted more than 70 per cent from its peak in the mid noughties. As part of its adaptation, Royal Mail announced in April a £500m investment plan that it hoped would raise punctuality. The delivery giant has been locked in a years-long struggle to improve a delivery track record that has regularly missed centrally-set targets.
Royal Mail fined for delivery performance
In June, the company conceded it had only delivered three quarters of its first-class mail on time – well below its 93 per cent benchmark. The figures earned Kretinsky’s firm a stern rebuke from the communications watchdog Ofcom, which fined it £21m and launched a probe into the “unacceptable” delivery times.
Kretinsky told MPs he was “deeply sorry” for the group’s performance, after Business and Trade Committee chair Liam Byrne accused it of overseeing “a national breakdown in the service”.
It said earlier this year it would reduce some key services, including the number of delivery days for second-class letters. Royal Mail has since said the move has helped improve its first-class delivery performance.