Delivery giant Royal Mail has blamed industrial action for a multi million pound financial loss of £350 million.
Parent company International Distribution Services announced a trading update today where it laid out its full year estimate for Royal Mail.
Royal Mail experience an adjusted operating loss of £219 million in H1 2022-23, which included £70 million of direct negative impacts from 3 days of industrial strike action.
In response to the financial loss, IDS is will be starting the consulting process for ‘rightsizing’ the business in response to the industrial action taken, along with delays in delivering agreed productivity improvements, and lower parcel volumes.
As part of this, the company will cut 5,000 full time roles, by March 2023, and c.10,000 by the end of August 2023.
Based on current estimates, it says, c.5,000-6,000 jobs may be cut by August 2023.
Royal Mail’s estimated full year financial loss is set to be £350 million, which could go up to £450 million if customers move volumes away for longer periods.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU), has threatened 16 further days of strikes spanning across November and December, and if these do go ahead, IDS has said that further ‘restructuring’ may be needed to account for the financial loss which will be incurred.
