Royal Mail has stopped bonuses worth a total of £1.4 million to its executives after the Christmas surge prevented millions of parcels being delivered on time due to the peak season. This is despite record overall profits for the postal operator.

According to Royal Mail the bonuses have been withheld after considering the impact of service failures, slower than planned modernisation and the fact that its revenue growth had been boosted significantly by the government awarding it contracts in the pandemic crisis.

The surge in online shopping caught Royal Mail unawares and this caused major delays in parcel and mail delivery. This led to uneven deliveries across the UK, with a national newspaper reporting that a borough of London going a month without mail or parcel deliveries in the peak season.

A spokeswoman for Royal Mail said: “We paid no 2020-21 annual bonuses to Royal Mail executive board members and other senior managers. The decision not to award bonuses took several factors into account, including the pace of transformation at Royal Mail being slower than planned and quality of service. 

“We are making one-off recognition payments to frontline managers and other colleagues totalling £25million to recognise their exceptional contribution over the year.”