Royal Mail to cut up to 2,500 jobs amid restructure and fall in letter deliveries

Royal Mail is to cut up to 2,500 jobs as the embattled company seeks to restructure its business amid intense competition and the continuing decline in letter deliveries.

The postal service, which has been fined a total of £37m since 2023 for missing delivery targets set by Ofcom, said the job cuts would focus on head office and “support function roles” with the restructure to be completed by the end of next year.

Pointing out that the volume of letter deliveries had declined more than 70% since their peak in the mid-00s, Royal Mail said the cuts would be achieved through “natural attrition” and a voluntary exit programme with no compulsory redundancies.

The company said there would be no reduction in operational frontline roles in delivery and processing, including the number of posties and drivers it employs. The cuts amount to less than 2% of Royal Mail’s workforce of more than 131,000.

“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,” said Alistair Cochrane, the chief executive of Royal Mail. “These proposed changes remove duplication and allow us to invest further in the service we deliver for our customers.”