'Four People's Work for Three': Royal Mail DM26 Plan Drives Staff Exodus

About 400 postal workers a week are leaving Royal Mail, according to the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which says staff departures have risen since the company brought in its new Delivery Model 26 (DM26) earlier this year.

The union says Royal Mail was previously losing about 330 employees a week from a workforce of approximately 83,000. The figures have not been independently verified.

On 9 October the CWU announced a pause to any further DM26 roll-out until it and Royal Mail agree a plan to address problems in affected delivery offices. The union later said the company had requested immediate negotiations.

Royal Mail says the roll-out is 90 per cent complete and that the proportion of UK addresses receiving a daily delivery has risen to 95 per cent, from 88 per cent before the model was introduced. It said it works to ensure letters and parcels are delivered on time and that the new model is improving overall performance.

How DM26 Changes Postal Rounds

The model reorganises delivery duties and working patterns as part of wider efforts to improve performance and make the universal postal service more sustainable. Under it, three postal workers collectively cover four delivery duties.

It operates alongside revised universal service arrangements, which allow second-class and bulk letters to be delivered on alternate weekdays. First-class letters keep a six-day schedule.

The CWU says DM26 is operating smoothly in around 500 offices but argues that hundreds of others face problems with workloads and staffing.

The union says most departing workers are new entrants on part-time contracts, although departures among longer-serving employees on legacy contracts have also increased.

Staff Say Workload Has Increased

Postal workers interviewed by BBC Your Voice, who were not named because they feared disciplinary action, said delivery rounds were overloaded and staffing levels inadequate. Some said the arrangement left three people doing the work of four.

Some also alleged that operational problems were not being fully reflected in reports to senior management. One worker said they suspected a manager would have recorded all first-class mail as delivered. These claims have not been independently verified.

Eight workers in different regions told the BBC their daily step counts had increased since they switched to DM26, with some reporting totals of around 25,000 steps. The figures were based on their own tracking.

Regulator Fines and Political Pressure

Ofcom has fined Royal Mail a total of £37.1 million for failing to meet delivery obligations in 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25. The regulator says it will continue to monitor the company's performance.

Minister of State Kate Dearden said Royal Mail's improvement plan was 'a step in the right direction' but that it must deliver tangible improvements for customers.

Labour MP Dave Robertson, who represents Lichfield, Burntwood and the Villages in Staffordshire, said a group of MPs was due to meet Ofcom on [confirmed date] to discuss the future of the postal service.

Royal Mail says it plans to recruit 22,000 temporary workers for the Christmas peak. It has also announced plans to cut 2,500 administrative and support roles by the end of 2027 as part of a wider restructuring.