Mark Higson, Managing Director of Operations and Modernisation, said: "Royal Mail’s performance in the face of exceptional challenges last financial year is a tribute to the determination and dedication of our postmen and women.
"We are sorry for any difficulties experienced by our customers. We did everything possible to deliver their mail in the face of prolonged spells of extreme winter weather and the unprecedented closure of UK airspace."
The statement from Royal Mail continued: Royal Mail was still beating its 93.0% First Class delivery target up to early November with a 93.3% performance for the first eight periods of the financial year - despite the impact of the ash cloud in the spring.
Last April was the first time UK airspace had ever been closed as a result of volcanic ash. This disrupted next-day delivery of mail. Royal Mail operates the UK’s biggest night-time air charter operation to fly First Class mail longer distances, eg between Scotland and the south of England.
Last winter saw the coldest December in the last 100 years, according to the Met Office. Other delivery firms withdrew their services at times when Royal Mail maintained deliveries with a £20 million investment in additional transport, an extra 20,000 recruits and 18,000 additional delivery rounds.
Royal Mail also faced a difficult recovery period after Christmas as parts of the UK continued to suffer from poor weather and transport difficulties. There were also heavy business mail postings in January.
Despite the exceptional conditions, Royal Mail achieved a 94.3% success rate for ‘Standard Parcels’ against a target of 90.0% per cent - before any adjustment for exceptional events. The company also achieved its European International Delivery Target achieving 93.1 per cent against a target of 85.0%. Mailsort 3, a bulk business mail service, also beat its 97.5% target without adjustment with a performance of 98.0%.
The disruption to air, road and rail services meant that Royal Mail’s bellwether indicator, First Class stamped and meter mail performance, was 91.4% for the 2010-11 year before adjustments for the impact on our operations of exceptional weather and the closure of UK airspace. With adjustments for these exceptional events, the First Class performance would be 93.0%. Second Class exceeded its 98.5% target with a 98.8% performance if account is taken of the exceptional events. Without adjustment, it was slightly below target with a 98.2% performance.
Under the terms of its licence from Postcomm, Royal Mail is now asking the regulator to apply these adjustments to the 2010-11 Quality of Service figures to recognise the impact of the severity of the weather conditions and the disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud. This is an established procedure. The company believes the exceptional conditions fully warrant adjustments as Royal Mail did everything possible to cope with events beyond its control. Postcomm will reach a view on these adjustments later this year.
The annual report covers the period from 22 March 2010 to 20 March 2011. The full report will be published on Royal Mail’s website.
Royal Mail’s Quality of Service is measured independently by TNS-Research International, a company with a long track record in this field. The methodology used and the results obtained are verified independently of Royal Mail and Research International. Royal Mail knows of no other measurement of its Quality of Service that gives results with the geographical coverage and degree of reliability and accuracy in the figures obtained by Research International. Over 2010-11, the Quality of Service measurements are based on the performance of just under one million test items of mail.
