ALLOWING Royal Mail to scrap Saturday deliveries for second-class post and switch to an alternate weekday service won’t be a “one-stop solution” for the problems in the postal service, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) warned today.

The regulator Ofcom said that from July 28, Royal Mail will be able to axe the six-day-a-week service for second-class letters, but will maintain Monday to Saturday deliveries for first-class post.

It would keep the target for second-class letters to arrive within three working days.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward warned that “Royal Mail has been trialling these changes in delivery offices across the country and there are clear problems on the ground.

“These changes are not a ‘one-stop solution’ for the problems in the postal service — the real culprit behind these issues is Royal Mail’s inability to properly recruit and retain staff, which has led to workloads piling up in delivery offices and vital letters being left behind,” he said.

“The new owners of Royal Mail must ensure that the culture of mismanagement and inferior pay and conditions for new staff does not continue under their leadership.”

The changes follow a lengthy consultation and aim to help Royal Mail cut costs by between £250 million and £425m a year, and a recent £3.6 billion takeover of Royal Mail owner IDS by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group.

This was completed in June after being cleared by the government at the end of 2024.

Mr Ward also called on the government to “intervene with Ofcom, who have failed in their duty as a regulator, and ensure that there is a level playing field when it comes to regulating parcel courier giants like Amazon.”