Royal Mail loses 400 postal workers a week amid new system rollout
The CWU union reports that Royal Mail is losing 400 postal workers weekly following the introduction of the DM26 delivery system, raising staff concerns.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Royal Mail is losing approximately 400 postal workers every week
- The CWU attributes the rise in departures to the rollout of the DM26 delivery system
- Staff members warn of a potential nightmare scenario during the upcoming Christmas season
- Royal Mail defends the reforms as essential for a financially sustainable service
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has revealed that Royal Mail is losing about 400 postmen and women per week. This figure marks an increase from the previous rate of roughly 330 postal staff leaving weekly out of a total workforce of 83,000 employees.
This surge in departures follows the company's implementation of a new delivery framework known as DM26, which reorganizes routes to enhance overall delivery performance. According to the union, the system is failing in hundreds of delivery offices, while BBC Your Voice has gathered warnings from staff predicting a nightmare Christmas due to surging parcel volumes.
The DM26 model stipulates that second-class post is delivered only every other weekday, while first-class mail and parcels are guaranteed daily delivery by grouping workers into teams of three and altering walking patterns. However, anonymous postal workers report that parcels remain prioritized, letters are left behind, and sorting time has expanded.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
"We all think this Christmas will be the worst ever, for us and our customers."
A postman in the East Midlands
Furthermore, workload measurements from workers tracking their daily steps indicated increases of a quarter or a third, frequently reaching up to 25,000 steps per day. In response to these operational hurdles, the CWU has instructed members to pause any further expansion of the new model until an agreed action plan is established with Royal Mail to resolve ongoing issues.
Logistics restructuring in legacy postal services often triggers friction between corporate efficiency goals and front-line workforce capacity. When introducing automated or restructured delivery models like DM26, managing workload distribution and employee retention becomes critical, especially ahead of peak operational periods like the winter holidays. High turnover rates among newer staff often highlight operational stress points that require careful balancing between management targets and labor realities.
Conversely, Royal Mail maintains that the reforms are on schedule to cover all offices by Christmas, noting that the rollout is 90% complete and service delivery reaches 95% of addresses daily across the UK. The company also announced plans to hire 22,000 temporary workers for the Christmas period, even as it navigates past regulatory penalties from Ofcom totaling over £37m over the past three years due to missed delivery targets.
Source: BBC Business
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