Royal Mail Quality of Service improves but still missing targets

The latest Royal Mail Quality of Service report covering the period from the 30th of March to the 28th of June 2026 is out and whilst results are better, with lower targets and a new backstop target, performance is still not where it’s required to be.

It’s worth noting that there are new targets for Royal Mail set by Ofcom which lowered the headline targets for both First and Second Class mail as well as a backstop target to deliver mail that missed the main delivery aims, but performance has improved compared to the past year’s results.

We should also remember that these results are for letter services and bear no reflection on the performance of Royal Mail parcels products which they’re not required to report on in the same manner. We suspect parcels are much more reliably delivered than letters.

Royal Mail Quality of Service Q1 2026/27 First Class Next working day delivery Target – Was 93% now 90% Achieved – 85. 0% New Backstop Target within 3 working days Target – 99% Achieved – 98. 1% Second Class Next working day delivery Target – Was 98. 5% now 95% Achieved – 91. 4% New Backstop Target – within 5 working days Target: 99% Achieved: 98.

4% Royal Mail say that the results build on the progress made towards the end of the last financial year, when First Class performance reached 81. 1% and Second Class reached 90. 2%.

The results, they say, put First Class performance ahead of the Q1 range of 77-79% set out in Royal Mail’s Improvement Plan published in April, while Second Class performance is within its Q1 range of 90. 5-91. 5%. Across all letter products, 93% of letters are currently delivered on time and more than 99% within a week.

The Improvement Plan is supported by the rollout of a new delivery model designed to improve reliability and quality of service. Under the new model, First Class letters continue to be delivered six days a week, while Second Class and other non-First Class letters are delivered every other weekday.

These results are encouraging and show that the work we are doing to improve the service is having an impact. First Class performance is well ahead of where we expected to be at this stage of our Improvement Plan, while Second Class is tracking in line with the plan. We know there is more to do.

We are investing £500 million over five years and making significant changes across our network, including rolling out the new delivery model across all 1,200 of our delivery offices. None of this progress would be possible without the continued hard work of our frontline colleagues, including through the recent extreme heat.

– Jamie Stephenson, Chief Operating Officer, Royal Mail