Royal Mail launches Christmas punctuality bonus as losses soar

Postal service renews call to change universal service obligation as its revenues fall

Royal Mail has launched a bonus scheme worth up to 500 a worker in an attempt to meet delivery targets over Christmas, as its owner's losses more than doubled in the first half of the financial year.

Some employees could earn up to 500 extra for hitting local and national quality targets", in what Royal Mail's renamed parent company, International Distributions Services (IDS), described as a one-off quality incentive scheme" to try to avoid a repeat of last Christmas, when days of strikes disrupted deliveries.