Return Royal Mail to public ownership

We are concerned that Royal Mail has made profits for years while having repeated industrial disputes with loyal postal workers. Letter delivery has failed time and again. We believe privatisation has clearly failed — the Government should restore Royal Mail to public ownership

We believe Royal Mail has generated profits for years while its dedicated postal workers have faced worsening conditions, triggering repeated industrial disputes. Letter delivery standards have failed time and time again, and we feel that the public is paying the price. We think privatisation has clearly failed. The Government should purchase Royal Mail and return this essential service to public ownership.

Royal Mail is a critical part of our national infrastructure, providing crucial services for millions across the UK, and is an iconic part of UK national life. Privatisation was necessary to ensure this critical institution continues and that there is a consistent provision of a universal postal service that does not compete for public funds, which should be used to fund the NHS and other public services. The designated universal service provider remaining within the private sector with access to the capital needed to transform the business and ensure its long-term financial sustainability, is therefore the most appropriate option at this time.

Recognising the importance of this service in advance of the takeover, the government secured, from Royal Mail’s parent company EP Group, significant commitments to protect UK customers. This included the Government’s Golden Share in Royal Mail, securing a veto against the movement of Royal Mail’s tax and HQ residency out of the UK, and we secured a commitment to prevent dividend payments until Royal Mail’s quality of service has improved.  This ensures that profits are not being diverted from this critical service being delivered to the UK.

However, the government do recognise that Royal Mail’s quality of service has not been good enough. Ministers have regularly met Royal Mail’s leadership to discuss ongoing performance issues following reports of issues in a number of areas and will continue to make representations where service levels fall short. Most recently the Minister for the Future of Work met with the Chief Executive of Royal Mail on 21 September 2026 to reinforce the importance of postal deliveries to constituents and to reinforce that the company needs to continue to improve its performance. Quality of Service figures published for Q1 26/27 show some positive improvement with First Class performance up 9% to 85.0% and second class up by 2.1% to 91.4% whilst an improvement this still does not meet statutory targets, and we will continue to push Royal Mail to improve.

To support improvements in both quality of service and staff retention Royal Mail published its improvement plan on 21 April. The plan identifies a primary cause of service issues as the non-completion of delivery routes, and it sets out the measures and timeframes for improvement so that more routes are completed each day and constituents see fewer delays. The business has also committed to investing £500 million to increase its frontline resourcing, and the availability of average weekly working hours for part-time employees will increase.

These measures, alongside the agreement reached with the CWU, will help to alleviate pressures on postal workers while also contributing to improved service quality for users. Further information on the plan is available on the website of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS): www.internationaldistributionservices.com/en/press-centre/press-releases/international-distribution-services/royal-mail-publishes-universal-service-improvement-plan/.

Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade