Postwatch, the watchdog for postal services congratulates the management and workforce of the Royal Mail Group on the excellent financial performance in 2004/05. We also congratulate them on the improvement in delivery performance during the year.
Despite failing to achieve 11 of its 15 licence performance targets, Royal Mail’s 2004/05 performance is encouraging. As the table below shows, Royal Mail has improved performance against 14 of its targets during the course the year.
% except where *
| PRODUCT |
TARGET |
2003/04 |
2004/05 |
| 1st Class Stamped & Metered |
92.5 |
90.1 |
91.4 |
| 2nd Class Stamped & Metered |
98.5 |
97.8 |
98.5 |
| 1st Class PPI |
90.6 |
83.5 |
87.5 |
| 2nd Class PPI |
97.4 |
94.6 |
96.0 |
| 1st Class Response Services |
90.3 |
81.7 |
80.5 |
| 2nd Class Response Services |
97.5 |
92.2 |
93.4 |
| Special Delivery |
99.0 |
97.9 |
98 |
| All PCAs (except 3) to achieve
91% for 1st Class
(All Posted) |
118* |
66* |
80* |
| All PCAs to achieve 92.5% for
1st Class (Intra) |
121* |
97* |
107* |
| Mailsort 1 |
91.0 |
89.2 |
91.1 |
| Mailsort 2 |
97.5 |
95.7 |
97.3 |
| Mailsort 3 |
97.5 |
97.4 |
98.5 |
| Presstream 1 |
90.5 |
88.1 |
90.4 |
| Presstream 2 |
97.5 |
95.1 |
97.5 |
| Standard Retail Parcels |
90.0 |
88.9 |
89.7 |
Whilst applauding Royal Mail for continuing its turn around from serious loss maker to profitable company Postwatch maintains that an acceptable postal service will only have been achieved when all minimum licence targets are at least hit.
Postwatch accepts that remuneration for Royal Mail’s senior staff is a matter for the Board and the Government as shareholder. However, we will continue to press for a substantial part of any package to be linked to achieving performance targets. Customers generally care about the service they are receiving not how much profit
the company is making or who owns it.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Royal Mail Holding’s operating (loss) / profit for the past 5 years.£millions
| 2000/01 |
2001/02 |
2002/03 |
2003/04 |
2004/05 |
| (206) |
(318) |
(197) |
220 |
537 |
2. Postal prices increased in 2002/03 and 2003/04. Combined these increases
yielded over £400 million in extra revenue.
More information
1. Visit Postwatch’s website www.postwatch.co.uk
