Just over three-quarters of first class letters, specifically 75.7%, were delivered on time by Royal Mail in the year ending March, far below its target of 93%.
The latest quality-of-service report covers the postal firm’s performance under its new private owner, Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group, whose takeover was approved by shareholders at the end of April last year.
Only 90.2% of second class letters were delivered within three working days, against a target of 98.5%, compounding the firm’s poor overall performance.
Royal Mail said its service was improving and that it was on track to hit new reduced targets of 90% for first class and 95% for second class by this time next year.
Chief operating officer Jamie Stephenson said: “We’re putting significant investment into improving reliability and reaching these new delivery targets, but delivering lasting change across a network of this scale takes time.”
The firm said it was investing £500m over the next five years as part of its wider improvement plan to restore service levels.
It has been ten years since Royal Mail last met its first class letter delivery targets, and six years since it last met its second class targets.
Performance slumped during the Covid-19 pandemic and has not fully recovered, drawing sustained criticism from politicians and members of the public.
In October last year, regulator Ofcom fined Royal Mail £21m for missing targets, making it the third-largest fine ever imposed by the communications watchdog.
Royal Mail was also fined in both 2023 and 2024 for similarly poor delivery performance across its network.
In February this year, postal workers told the BBC that some letters had been sitting undelivered for weeks and that they had been told to prioritise parcel delivery as it is more profitable.
Royal Mail executives were subsequently hauled in front of a parliamentary select committee in March to respond to those claims directly.
Owner Kretinsky told MPs he was “deeply sorry for any letter that arrives late” and denied that parcels were being deliberately prioritised over letters.
He said: “I have never heard any instruction or discussion, and have not participated in any exchange, that would sanction that Royal Mail is prioritising parcels over letters.”
Citizens Advice policy director Tom MacInnes said poor performance at Royal Mail was “business as usual” and warned that improvement was taking far too long.
“What’s worse, Royal Mail claims people will have to wait another year until it can meet its new, lower delivery targets,” he added.
As part of its improvement plan, Royal Mail has offered part-time postal workers the option to extend their working hours to help meet demand.
It has also agreed a plan with Ofcom to scrap second class delivery on Saturdays as part of its evolving operational model.
Ofcom has reduced Royal Mail’s letter delivery targets, with the service now measured against a new lower benchmark introduced since April this year.
Ofcom said that “maintaining the current targets, which are more stretching than comparable European countries, would carry higher costs which would need to be recovered through higher prices.”