London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Royal Mail plans to make up to 6,000 roles redundant by August

Royal Mail plans to make up to 6,000 roles redundant by August

Workers' representative the Communication Workers Union is seeking an urgent meeting with the company board to put forward an alternative business plan as it blames losses on "gross mismanagement".

Royal Mail has announced it will begin a process to make 5,000 to 6,000 roles redundant by August next year.

The announcement, made in a trading update by the postal service's parent company, has been blamed on industrial action taken by Royal Mail workers, delays in improving productivity and falling parcel volumes.

A process of "consulting on rightsizing" is to begin. Jobs are to be reduced by an estimated 5,000 full time roles by March 2023 and 10,000 by end of August 2023 to achieve short-term cost efficiencies, International Distributions Services plc said.

Based on current estimates, around 5,000 to 6,000 redundancies may be required by end of August 2023, it added.

More jobs may need to go, the company warned, if 16 days of strikes take place in November and December. It expects such action would "materially" increase the company's loss for the year.

A voluntary redundancy scheme is to be offered in an effort to avoid compulsory redundancies but the company has said its traditional redundancy package of up to two years' pay is no longer on offer: "The financial position of the business means that our legacy voluntary redundancy policy, which offered up to two years' pay, is now unaffordable."

The parent company reported a loss of £219m for the first half of this financial year, compared to a profit of £235m during the last financial year.

Around £70m of that loss was attributed to "direct negative impacts" from three days of industrial action.

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), who represents Royal Mail workers, had been engaged in strike action over pay and conditions.

Around 115,000 Royal Mail staff walked out over pay and conditions in what the CWU said is the biggest national strike of any sector this year. Up to twenty-one days are to be affected by the strikes.

Commenting on the announcement CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: "The announcement is the result of gross mismanagement and a failed business agenda of ending daily deliveries, a wholesale levelling-down of the terms, pay and conditions of postal workers, and turning Royal Mail into a gig economy style parcel courier.

"What the company should be doing is abandoning its asset-stripping strategy and building the future based on utilising the competitive edge it already has in its deliveries to 32 million addresses across the country.

"The CWU is calling for an urgent meeting with the board and will put forward an alternative business plan at that meeting.

"This announcement is holding postal workers to ransom for taking legal industrial action against a business approach that is not in the interests of workers, customers or the future of Royal Mail. This is no way to build a company."

International Distributions Services also owns GLS, a profitable international, Amsterdam based logistics company.

The parent company warned that it may separate the companies to prevent GLS subsidising the losses of Royal Mail.

GLS is on track to profit between €370 and €410m this financial year.

"In the event that significant change within Royal Mail is not achieved, all options remain open to protect the value and prospects of the group, including separation of the two companies," the trading update said.

Royal Mail is expected to have a loss of around £350m, excluding voluntary redundancy costs. The sum may increase to around a £450 million loss if customers move business away for longer periods following the initial disruption.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
×