Problems with the post could threaten the UK’s vaccination programme

The fact that 27 postal areas in England and one in Northern Ireland are experiencing “limited” post services might be news to much of the UK but it surely isn’t to those of us living in those postcodes.

My family resides in the London borough of Redbridge and has enjoyed just two deliveries in the more than two weeks since Christmas.

Compared to residents in nearby Hainault, we have cause to be thankful for that. Valerie Wallbank told the Ilford Recorder that she had not received any mail since 12 December.

This isn’t, then, a new problem. But it is one that is now attracting publicity and that’s no bad thing.

Invitations to book coronavirus vaccinations are currently being sent out by mail to those in priority groups.  Many of the disrupted areas are Covid hot zones, where the need for vaccination is clearly at its most acute.

Some level of disruption was always going to be inevitable, through staff getting sick or coming into close contact with Covid positive people and being required to self isolate.

The company has also had to institute protocols with a view to keeping those who are able to work safe. That’s only right and proper, and without them the problem would inevitably be exacerbated through still more staff getting sick.

But it is still possible to raise questions about the handling of the issue by Royal Mail managers and it’s important to do so at a time when the company’s services have never been more vital.

I’m told that where possible, overtime has been offered and temporary staff employed over Christmas have been kept on.

Should more such staff now be recruited? It’s a fair question to ask with those all important letters going out. Recipients could be forgiven for feeling as if having one land on the doorstep is like receiving a golden ticket, or a least a moderately-sized lottery win. It’s hard to imagine getting anything more important in the post.

I’m told staff have been trained to look out for and prioritise these letters – the envelopes are quite recognisable.

That’s also a welcome step, but if there’s no one available to deliver the things they’re simply going to be left in the priority part of an undelivered pile.

It isn’t just vaccination letters that have made this a live issue. I’ve had reports of at least one London hospital resorting to couriers to get out letters offering appointments for important diagnostic tests, and they are expensive.

Long term, the Royal Mail has a challenge. Its letters business has been in decline as its parcels business has boomed. The pandemic has turbo charged that.

But letters are still relied upon by large parts of Britain.

Privatisation has made the Royal Mail a commercial organisation, driven by commercial priorities including the maximising of profits to facilitate the delivery of dividends to shareholders.

At the same time, it is responsible for the maintenance of what is an important public service. Those imperatives sometimes come into conflict.

It isn’t, then, unfair to raise the question: Are the Mail’s systems fit for purpose? Has it invested sufficiently in keeping them up to scratch so they can cope with an increased volume of parcels while still maintaining an efficient level of service for those sending out letters at a time when that has never been more important?

Perhaps the Parliamentary Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee might like to consider this.

The post-mortems when this pandemic is finally over are going to occupy us for months. But it is necessary to hold them because the next viral nasty could be just around the corner, and this one has exposed a large number of holes in a large number of systems and they all need fixing fast.