Posties told to leave hospital letters in racks to prioritise parcels – union

The postal service has become “chaotic” with Royal Mail workers being told to leave doctors’ and hospital letters on racks to prioritise parcels, trade union bosses have warned.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) told MPs that postal workers are led by a pyramid framework which tells them which deliveries to prioritise over others. At the top of the pyramid is special delivery items, followed by parcels or tracked items, then first-class mail, leaving second-class mail at the bottom. Martin Walsh, deputy general secretary of the CWU, told the Treasury Committee that Royal Mail was facing a “retention crisis” with postal staff “working harder than they’ve ever done in really challenging conditions, because they can’t clear the workload every day”. “There is a pyramid process where it is understandable that people are getting delays,” he told the committee. “All employees want to deliver and they know their customers, and some of them feel very aggrieved that they’re told to leave leave doctors letters, hospital letters in the frames to prioritise tracked. And we often get feedback on that issue.” Dave Ward, general secretary of the CWU, said the “service at the moment is chaotic” and it was a “demoralising environment” for postal workers. “On a daily basis, it’s extremely difficult to get through all the workload,” he said. He said this was the experience for frontline postal workers in the majority of post offices.

Published: 24/03/2026 by Radio NewsHub