Following a number of residents contacting me over the past few weeks to express concerns over the lack of postal deliveries, I met (virtually) with Royal Mail today to get some answers and an update on the current situation:
Royal Mail asked me to pass on their sincere apologies for recent mail delivery issues.
For clarity as many people have asked, Covid-19 vaccination appointments are currently being booked via telephone in Suffolk and North East Essex, not via post.
Despite the rigorous procedures put in place by Royal Mail to maintain a Covid-safe working environment, at the start of this month, Royal Mail had a third of their total number of staff in the Colchester sorting office off, with two thirds off due to Covid-19, annual leave or sickness. The vast majority of these were self-isolating which happened overnight after an alert via the NHS Test & Trace App.
As a result, Royal Mail had to prioritise mail (such as NHS testing kits).
Royal Mail explained that they had a huge backlog by consequence, however staff members took on overtime and agency workers were hired in an effort to catch-up as quickly as possible.
Royal Mail are now back up to their usual workforce capacity in our sorting office, and they expect postal services to return to normal by Monday.
Royal Mail assure me that they now have robust contingency plans in place so we should not face the same issues should they have staff off again in the future.
I understand the level of frustration shared by residents over postal services in Colchester these past few weeks and I hope that the above update provides further clarity and relief that services expect to return to normal soon.
Last but not least, I would like to put on record my thanks to all of the posties and at Royal Mail staff who are working hard under difficult circumstances to ensure that people are receiving mail and parcels. We do appreciate what you are doing for us.