Royal Mail staff say they were told to hide post to look like delivery targets met

Postal workers from across the UK have told the BBC they are being asked to move or hide mail from senior bosses so it looks like delivery targets are being met.

They told BBC Your Voice they are often told by managers "take the mail for a ride" when they raise that they have too many parcels to have time to deliver letters as well.

Royal Mail bosses are due to answer questions from MPs on Tuesday about the ongoing postal delays impacting millions of people across the UK.

The company said it took claims that posties were hiding letters "very seriously" and that 92% of letters were delivered on time.

Royal Mail has a legal obligation to deliver first class post six days a week.

But with no extra employees, overtime slashed, and continued pressure to deliver parcels, they say it is often not possible to take the post as well.

The delays are causing big problems for the public, who say they are missing hospital appointments and other important letters.

One customer, so frustrated by the delays, now takes the bus every weekend to his local delivery office to pick up his mail himself.

'Embarrassing and deceitful'

Ten postal workers from different delivery offices, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs, told the BBC that "take the mail for ride" is a common phrase in their workplace.

One worker said: "Say we have a senior manager coming in from outside the delivery office, any mail that has been left would get hidden by the line managers.

"It gets put into a york (a trolley) and taken somewhere, and brought back to you the next day."

He explained that when someone raises the fact that they have too many parcels to deliver to be able to take out the post as well, "they'll quite often just say 'take the mail for a ride'".

"If someone comes in from the outside it looks like you've cleared the round, when in actual fact you'll be bringing it straight back when you finish."

"It's embarrassing and deceitful," he adds.

A postal worker in Wales said: "It just means that our boss can say that all rounds went out the door, knowing full well they are not going to be delivered."

Another worker said taking the mail for a ride meant "if inspections were carried out at the delivery office the first class mail would not be in the frame.

"This meant the round could be classed as complete… to manipulate the delivery success of the office."

A fourth worker said: "They are just trying to cover themselves, it means that posties are having to take the first class out on a daily basis even knowing that they are just going to bring it back."

Ofcom, the communications regulator, has fined Royal Mail £37m in recent years for poor performance delivering letters, and warned that fines were "likely to continue" if there is no improvement.

In the 2024-25 financial year, the company delivered 77% of first class mail and 92.5% of second class mail on time, falling short of its 93% and 98.5% respective targets.

Royal Mail told the BBC that the postal workers' claims "do not reflect how our delivery operations work".

"We would take any suggestion that colleagues are hiding mail very seriously," a spokesperson said.

"We will investigate the specific cases raised... where there are local issues, we focus on restoring normal service as quickly as possible and supporting customers."

'I pick up the mail myself'

Anthony Lobo, a pensioner who lives in Welling in Kent, is so frustrated by irregular post deliveries that every Saturday morning he collects his mail from Bexleyheath Delivery Office himself.

"I shouldn't have to do it but [I do] in order to save me the hassle as I receive a lot of mail. And if I don't go, it will just be sitting there."

On Anthony's last trip he collected 20 letters, some from the NHS. He says complaining to Royal Mail hasn't made any difference.

"Royal Mail is a huge company and I'm just a small ant to them so I just take the easy option and go and pick up the mail myself."

The Communication Workers' Union (CWU), which represents postal staff, said the failures to deliver post were the result of "low wages and poor conditions" that have led to a "recruitment and retention crisis".

A CWU spokesperson said: "This devaluing of a postal worker's job, combined with a toxic managerial culture, has created chaos and demoralisation in almost every workplace across the country."

'Impossible to complete workload'

Royal Mail has already submitted written evidence to the Business and Trade Committee to explain why so many customers are not receiving post for days, or sometimes weeks.

A cornerstone of its defence is that delivery rules need to change so second class mail can be taken out less frequently.

The company has already got permission from the regulator Ofcom to go ahead with this plan, and Royal Mail claims it is working well in the areas where it has piloted the new system.

But three staff members in pilot areas told the BBC that was not the case.

"Nothing has really improved, it's gotten worse," one said. "It feels each week that the line managers are looking for a new way to blame any failures of the new delivery system on the posties, rather than looking at what the failures actually are."

Another said morale was at an all-time low.

"It makes people miserable. You feel like you're flogging a dead horse. There are people off sick, people off with stress.

"I resign myself to the fact that I can't complete my workload. It's just impossible."

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "Delivery performance has improved in pilot areas, with the proportion of addresses receiving mail each day increasing from around 92% to around 97%.

"The pilots have shown us what works and what needs adjusting. Deploying our new delivery model will result in a more reliable, efficient and financially sustainable service for our customers."