Royal Mail’s quality of service figures

Postcomm had looked into claims over the way quality of service was measured in a few areas of the UK. A Royal Mail spokesman said: "It’s essential customers can have full confidence in the quality of service figures we publish and we’re pleased Postcomm’s report has confirmed the accuracy of the published data, which is based on the independent measurement of tens of thousands of test letters sent every month.

"Postcomm’s 18-month investigation was extremely thorough. Although Postcomm found certain areas where we have been able to strengthen our systems, it found the actual quality of service figures had not been affected in any material way, there was no impact on customers and there had been no financial benefit to Royal Mail."

Part of the Postcomm statement: "Postcomm today announced that an investigation into Royal Mail’s monitoring of quality of service performance has concluded that the company failed to comply with Licence Conditions 4.8 (a) (ii) and (iii) which relate to independent monitoring of performance. However, the investigation found that the actual quality of service figures had not been affected in any material way, that Royal Mail had not benefitted financially from the conduct investigated and that there was no adverse impact on Royal Mail’s customers.

In light of the investigation’s findings Royal Mail has put in place a comprehensive remediation programme to address areas of concern and to strengthen its performance monitoring system. Postcomm considers that although Royal Mail is taking appropriate steps to secure compliance, it will not be fully compliant until the actions identified as necessary by Royal Mail are completed in March 2011."