Following extensive investigation with Spectos, the 3^rd party independent research company which manages the USO and Access quality survey, we have identified errors in the Access quality performance figures which Spectos reported for Quarters 1 to 4 of 2023/24, and Quarters 1 to 3 of 2024/25.

The investigation was prompted following Royal Mail having identified an anomaly in the item volume which Spectos was reporting for one Access customer compared to other contract holders. Since then, we have addressed this isolated issue with Spectos and the Access customer in question.  However our investigation exposed further issues, with Spectos’ reported Access quality survey figures since the beginning of 2023/24 as follows:

• Spectos has been misallocating too many items to customers with smaller volume resulting in the overall national quality of service performance being miscalculated; and

• Due to Spectos not carrying out a validation check as it should have done, some panellists’ who were reported to be posting Standard items were actually posting Economy items, and vice versa, resulting in a misdeclaration of both the Standard and Economy quality performance figures.

To rectify the above issues, Spectos, working with Royal Mail, has carried out appropriate corrective measures and have provided us with the correct Access quality performance figures. The table below shows the Access quality performance figures which Spectos reported, and the correct figures had the weighting and item class been applied correctly:

As you are aware, for Quarters 1 to 4 of 2023/24, and Quarters 1 and 2 of 2024/25, we have paid compensation to eligible Access customers on our failure to meet the Standard contractual quality performance targets for those quarters. From a monetary perspective, the net effect of Spectos having reported the incorrect Access quality performance figures for these quarters is such that Royal Mail has overpaid compensation to Access customers by an aggregate amount of circa £214,000.  For the avoidance of doubt, we are not seeking to recover this amount from Access customers.

Compensation for Quarter 3 of 2024/25

Compensation owed to Access customers for Quarter 3 of 2024/25 is due to be paid by 29 April 2025. The compensation calculations will be against the correct Access Standard quality figure achieved of 81.5%, rather than the previously published incorrect figure of 79.6%. We will be providing customers with their usual compensation report ahead of 29 April 2025.

Next steps

We appreciate you may have further concerns around the accuracy of the survey moving forward. We understand the importance of having an accurate quality measure and compensation calculations. We assure you that Royal Mail takes matters such as this very seriously and we have been working closely with Spectos to ensure processes are put in place so that such errors do not occur again.

Specifically, Spectos has carried out a review of its process which allocates panellists’ item class and has reinstated the validation checks which will ensure that the reporting accurately reflects the item class panellists are posting.  Additionally, Spectos has commissioned an internal audit of their current processes and have committed to following best practice guidance moving forward. Lastly, we will engage directly with the small number of contract holders whose specific quality performance figures have been misreported, providing them with corrected quality performance reports for the periods in question.