Oxford City Council confronts Royal Mail on postal delays

Council chief executive Caroline Green has outlined the grievances to a Royal Mail operations director in a letter which has been shared with the Oxford Mail.

She noted that "the ongoing poor performance of Royal Mail is adding to financial difficulties, missed hospital appointments and lack of access to many services having a detrimental impact on people's lives".

This comes after city councillor Linda Smith used a cabinet meeting to ask the chief executive to write to Royal Mail about the impact on the day-to-day running of services.

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The council letter states: "Over the last few months Oxford City Council has received many reports from its citizens of delays in Royal Mail post, on some occasions with post not being received for many weeks.

"This is causing huge difficulty and stress for our residents, particularly more vulnerable and elderly residents who rely on postal communication to manage and pay their bills, communicate with their banks, manage their healthcare appointments and other crucial services.

"The ongoing poor performance of Royal Mail is adding to financial difficulties, missed hospital appointments and lack of access to many services having a detrimental impact on people’s lives."

The latest distress comes just a few months after east Oxford residents found themselves missing hospital appointments and bill payments due to ongoing issues with the postal service.

There had also been delays in the area in 2021 when residents labelled the service as 'completely broken'.

The Oxford Mail reported last week on a surprise visit of MP Anneliese Dodds to a delivery office where she urged Royal Mail to act.

Ms Smith, cabinet member for housing, said: “I’ve heard residents from all over Oxford complain about the failure of local postal services.

Councillor Linda Smith (Image: Oxford Mail)

"Many households in Lye Valley ward have only been receiving post once every couple of weeks for a while now, and this has caused all sorts of problems for people, including missed hospital appointments and penalties for the late payment of bills."

Royal Mail said staffing issues are causing Oxfordshire's delays and claimed to be recruiting actively.

Ms Smith added that poor services could "put democracy at risk is postal votes are delayed at election time".

The council letter concluded: "Please can you provide a full explanation as to why Royal Mail is experiencing delays in processing our post and the actions you are taking to resolve this matter?

"We are seeking assurance that the issues that we and the residents of Oxford are experiencing are being dealt with and there are effective plans in place to improve the performance of your services."

The letter was sent by the chief executive of Oxford City Council. (Image: Oxford City Council)