Royal Mail proposes up to 2,500 job cuts in head office and support roles
Royal Mail says it plans to remove up to 2,500 roles by the end of 2027 through attrition and voluntary exits. The CWU says about 200 of its members could be affected.
Royal Mail proposed cutting up to 2,500 head-office and support roles in the UK on 7 October 2026, as it reorganises a business facing a long decline in letter deliveries. The company says it aims to complete the changes by the end of 2027. The Communication Workers Union says about 200 jobs held by its members could be affected.
These are proposed reductions, not completed job losses. Royal Mail says it plans to make them through natural attrition and a voluntary exit programme, with no compulsory redundancies. It also says it will not reduce operational frontline roles in delivery or processing, including postal workers and drivers. The CWU says it has received the same assurances, while seeking talks with management about the proposals.
Which Royal Mail jobs could be affected
The proposed cuts focus on head-office and support functions. The Guardian reports that 2,500 roles would amount to less than 2% of Royal Mail’s workforce of more than 131,000. That company-wide figure gives the scale of the plan, but does not show how many people in any individual department may leave.
The CWU says approximately 200 of its represented jobs in administration and revenue protection would be affected. That figure covers members represented by the union, rather than the full 2,500-role proposal. The available announcements do not identify every affected job or establish how many positions will disappear through staff leaving naturally compared with voluntary exits.
Martin Walsh, the CWU’s deputy general secretary for postal workers, said the union would meet management to discuss the announcement. He called on the government to intervene, arguing that Royal Mail was failing staff, customers and the wider community. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham also opposed the cuts, according to the Guardian, and said the union would support affected members. Her warning that more jobs could go without government and regulatory action is a union forecast, not an announced further round of cuts.
Why Royal Mail says it is reorganising
Royal Mail says letter deliveries have fallen by more than 70% since their peak in the mid-2000s. The Guardian reports that the company is also facing intense competition. Chief executive Alistair Cochrane said the proposed changes would remove duplication and allow further investment in the service offered to customers. That describes Royal Mail’s intended use of the savings; it does not establish that deliveries will improve.
The plan follows EP Group’s £3.6 billion takeover last year of International Distribution Services, Royal Mail’s parent company, according to the Guardian. The newspaper says this is the first announced round of cuts since that transaction. Royal Mail announced a separate, much larger cuts programme in 2022, when it said it sought to eliminate up to 10,000 roles, including 6,000 full-time frontline jobs. The current proposal differs in its stated focus on support work and its assurance about frontline roles.
Delivery performance and the regulatory investigation
Royal Mail’s service record forms part of the context for the announcement. In its June 2026 notice, Ofcom reported that 75.7% of first-class mail arrived the next working day in the year ending March 2026, against the 93% target that applied then. It said 90.2% of second-class mail arrived within three working days, against a 98.5% target. Those figures describe performance before the newly proposed restructuring.
Ofcom opened an investigation on 1 June into Royal Mail’s performance for that year. It said it would consider relevant factors, including parcel prioritisation and exceptional events, before deciding whether there had been a breach and whether a penalty should be considered. The notice does not establish the outcome of that investigation. Ofcom also said it had fined Royal Mail more than £37 million for delivery failures in previous years.
Delivery targets changed on 1 April 2026, Ofcom said, to 90% of first-class mail within one working day and 95% of second-class mail within three working days. The regulator assessed the results for the year ending March 2026 against the earlier, higher targets. Keeping those periods separate matters when comparing Royal Mail’s reported performance with its future obligations.
What happens next with the proposed cuts
Royal Mail’s stated deadline for completing the restructuring is the end of 2027. The CWU says it will meet management, but the available announcements do not set out a consultation timetable, final decisions for individual roles or a confirmed number of departures. They also provide no evidence that the job cuts will resolve delivery problems. For employees, the immediate distinction is between a proposal affecting support functions and a completed reduction in the workforce.
Sources and context
- Royal Mail to cut up to 2,500 jobs amid restructure and fall in letter deliveriesThe Guardian
- CWU response to Royal Mail job cutsCommunication Workers Union
- Ofcom investigates Royal Mail’s 2025/26 delivery performanceOfcom
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