We wrote to Access contract holders on 18 July 2022, informing you that the extremely hot temperatures experienced across the UK on Monday 18 July and Tuesday 19 July constituted a Disruptive Event under the Access Letters Contract (ALC) and Wholesale Parcels Contract (WPC).

To protect our people against the adverse weather conditions, like many other businesses, we took the appropriate health and safety measures, including recalling colleagues to the office if the temperature reached 35 degrees Celsius or above, which reduced the number of Mailing Items that we were able to deliver on 18 July and 19 July. The impact of this at some offices continued to be felt until 22 July as our teams sought to deliver the backlog. I am therefore writing to let you know that Royal Mail is not seeking to rely on this Disruptive Event from and including 23 July 2022.

Based on an assessment of available data from these sites, we estimate that Access quality of service in July was adversely impacted overall by 1.0%.

We strive to provide the highest level of service possible for all our customers.  Should any further Disruptive Events arise, we shall tell you about it as soon as we reasonably can.