Postal Services in Inkberrow
The petition of residents of the constituency of Redditch in Worcestershire,
Declares that the postal delivery service in Inkberrow village requires improvement.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to take action to ensure that Royal Mail provides an adequate postal service in Inkberrow.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Chris Bloore, Official Report, 15 January 2026; Vol. 778, c. 1184.]
[P003157]
Observations from The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Blair McDougall):
The Government are committed to the provision of a reliable and affordable universal postal service. A postal service that works for customers, workers and communities is crucial to the UK businesses that help drive growth across the country.
The Government are clear that Royal Mail’s quality of service has not been good enough. It is for Ofcom, as the independent regulator for the postal sector, to secure the provision of the universal postal service and to set and monitor Royal Mail’s service standards. Ofcom takes compliance with its regulatory targets seriously. In the 2024-25 financial year, Ofcom fined Royal Mail £21 million because of its failure to meet service levels without sufficient justification. In addition to the latest fine, Ofcom has told Royal Mail it must urgently publish and implement a credible improvement plan that delivers significant and continuous improvement.
Royal Mail advises that postal deliveries in Inkberrow were impacted prior to Christmas and impacted further by the adverse weather in January. This may have resulted in some customers receiving their mail on alternate days. Royal Mail’s team in Inkberrow have been working to consistently deliver to addresses in the village six days a week when there is mail to deliver. Royal Mail continues to engage with Chris Bloore MP on postal services in his Redditch constituency.
On 3 February, I met Royal Mail’s CEO, Alistair Cochrane, to press him on the action Royal Mail is taking to meet Ofcom’s instruction and make demonstrable improvements to service levels as a matter of urgency and rebuild consumers’ confidence in the service. The Government will continue to raise concerns with Royal Mail if the company’s quality of service does not improve.