Ipswich: Jobs at risk at Royal Mail Sorting Office

9 November 2012, 12:40 | Updated: 9 November 2012, 13:01

The Royal Mail in Ipswich says it's begun a review of staffing at the Sorting Office because the amount of mail they handle has fallen.

The review is expected to take six months and the decisions on job losses will be announced in March 2013.

Royal Mail have told Heart they want to avoid any compulsory redundancies and will try to find other positions for staff elsewhere in the business.

The company is blaming a fall in income and a cut in the amount of post we are sending. The amount of mail they are delivering has fallen from 84 million items a day six years ago, to 58 million items a day today.

Ricky McAulay from Royal Mail said: “Change is absolutely essential to meet customers’ expectations of a world class postal service, ensure we operate efficiently and provide a great quality of service in a smaller and radically changing market.
 
“Any change to our mail centre in Ipswich will, unfortunately, impact on some colleagues. Our agreements with the CWU set out an agreed approach to managing these changes and we will be working very closely with the CWU and Unite CMA to support our people during what will, inevitably, be a period of uncertainty.
 
“This review is part of the ongoing modernisation and investment in our business.  This is vital in order to put Royal Mail on a sound, secure and sustainable footing for the future.”