Royal Mail to ask part-time posties to work more to meet letter targets

Part-time Royal Mail postal workers will be offered the option to work longer hours in an effort to improve its service after criticism from the government and the regulator. Royal Mail says it will invest £500m over the next five years on a series of measures including giving posties more familiar routes as it attempts to deliver more letters on time. Ofcom, the official watchdog, agreed to relax Royal Mail's letter delivery targets this month, but Royal Mail has failed to meet those lower target levels, according to its latest figures. Royal Mail is currently delivering three quarters of first class letters on time against a target of 93%. The firm told BBC Breakfast it would take five to six months to implement its plans and that delivery targets would be met in a year's time. Its improvement measures also include investment to manage sickness absences and targeted support for the worst-performing delivery offices. Additionally, low-priority second class and other non-first class posts will be delivered every other weekday instead of daily. Parcels will still be delivered Monday to Saturday. The postal service is also pushing through plans to scrap Saturday delivery of second-cl