Royal Mail to cut up to 6,000 jobs by next August over ‘rising losses’

Royal Mail has today announced plans to reduce its overall headcount of workers by a total of 10,000 by next August.

The nation’s postal service currently employs 140,000 people right across the UK.

It’s believed that up to 6,000 people in full-time roles will be made redundant by August 2023.

Royal Mail says it plans to cut back on the 10,000 roles through redundancy, for the most part, while the rest will be achieved through natural attrition.

“This is a very sad day,” said Simon Thompson – Chief Executive at Royal Mail.

“I regret that we are announcing these job losses, [but] we will do all we can to avoid compulsory redundancies and support everyone affected.”

The redundancy announcements this morning come as parent company International Distributions Services said it had a loss of £219 million for the first half of this financial year, with around £70 million of that loss attributed to “direct negative impacts” from three days of industrial action.

The announcement also comes after Royal Mail workers who are members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) yesterday began a fresh round of strikes over pay, job cuts, and working conditions – with a further 19 days of industrial action yet to come.

Around 115,000 Royal Mail staff notably walked out in what the CWU said was “the biggest national strike of any sector” back in August.

Read more:

• Royal Mail bosses vote ‘overwhelmingly’ to strike over job cuts and working conditions
• Royal Mail to raise customer prices and cut costs as inflation soars
• 115,000 Royal Mail workers walk out in ‘biggest strike of the summer’

The CWU’s general secretary, Dave Ward, has said previously that workers are facing the “biggest ever assault” on jobs, terms and conditions “in the history of Royal Mail” – but Royal Mail chief Mr Thompson argued in his statement today that “each strike day weakens our financial situation.”

“The CWU’s decision to choose damaging strike action over resolution regrettably increases the risk of further headcount reductions,” he added.

Featured Image – Royal Mail