We’re following the latest news about the Royal Mail postal strikes to keep you updated. Here’s what we know currently:
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Published 1st March 2023
Further postal strikes planned
The Royal Mail website has confirmed that CWU members have voted to take further industrial action.
Currently, the CWU is yet to announce further strike action to take place.
We will keep this page updated with further information when we are able to.
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Published 7th February 2023
Postal strike called off after legal challenge from Royal Mail
The Royal Mail website has announced the CWU has cancelled their planned strike action for February 16th and 17th.
The CWU claims there was an error in their strike notification.
We will keep this page updated as and when we have updated information about future postal strikes.
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Published 5th February 2023
An update on postal strikes in February
The CWU has communicated that there will be a postal strike on 16th and 17th February 2023.
Royal Mail workers who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters will stage a 24-hour postal strike from 12.30pm on 16th February until 12.30pm on 17th February 2023.
Therefore, this will likely impact collections and processing on Thursday and deliveries on Friday.
Read the latest Royal Mail news.
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Published 4th January 2023
Are there any more postal strikes?
Following the postal strikes in December, we’re keeping a close eye on any potential postal strikes in January.
To answer the question, ‘when are the next postal strikes?’, there are no strike dates planned for January 2023.
However, the CWU has warned, “further action will take place in 2023”. Members are expected to ballot on the prospect of new strikes which will affect Royal Mail services.
We will continue to keep this page updated with any confirmed Royal Mail strikes in 2023.
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Published 10th December 2022
CWU confirms postal strikes dates before Christmas
The CWU has formally notified Royal Mail that postal workers plan to take further national strike action on the 23rd and 24th December 2022.
Royal Mail has warned that disruption is likely.
Read the latest Royal Mail news.
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Published 5th December 2022
Royal Mail last post dates before Christmas brought forward
In light of the planned industrial action planned by the CWU, Royal Mail has brought forward the latest recommended posting dates for UK and International services before the festive season.
UK
- 2nd Class / 2nd Class Signed For Royal Mail 48 – 12th December 2022
- 1st Class / 1st Class Signed For / Royal Mail 24 / Tracked 48 – 16th December 2022
- Royal Mail Tracked 24 – 19th December 2022
- Special Delivery Guaranteed – 21st December 2022
Read more information and international last post dates.
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Published 23rd November 2022
More Royal Mail postal strikes on the lead up to Christmas
Royal Mail workers are due to strike on six days in the lead-up to Christmas, including Christmas Eve, which is said to be one of the busiest days of the year for them.
The dates are set to be 9th, 11th, 14th, 15th, 23rd and 24th December.
This is on top of the four days already announced for late November and early December, impacting the Black Friday shopping weekend.
Keep up to date with the latest news from Royal Mail.
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Published 10th November 2022
Postal strike updates
The CWU has announced it is withdrawing planned national strike action on the 12 and 14 November 2022.
The CWU has announced they will be calling on members to take strike action on 24th, 25th and 30th November and 1st December 2022.
These dates are still to be formally confirmed, but the CWU has to provide 14 days’ notice before they can strike.
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Published 1st November 2022
New postal strike action dates
Despite calling off strikes for this week, the CWU has announced two November postal strike dates.
Royal Mail postal strikes will be held on Saturday, 12th and Monday, 14th November 2022.
On these dates, Royal Mail will aim to operate the same contingency and recovery plans as in previous national strike action.
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Published 30th October 2022
This week’s strikes are cancelled
Royal Mail has confirmed the CWU has withdrawn the industrial action planned for this week. This means Royal Mail workers who are members of the CWU will no longer be taking strike action on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th November 2022.
The announcement, made on the Royal Mail website on 30th October, also confirmed strikes planned for the 8th, 9th and 10th November 2022 would also be withdrawn.
For clients of Datagraphic, this means we now expect mail collections and deliveries to continue as normal and there to be no industrial action disrupting mail services.
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Published 25th October 2022
Early November Royal Mail postal strikes
CWU members of Royal Mail’s workforce will strike over three days in early November. The dates are Wednesday 2nd, Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th November 2022.
At Datagraphic, we will be working as normal during these dates, and from the information available, we expect mail collections to continue from our site on all three strike days.
Disruption is, however, likely to mail deliveries in the following days as strike action continues, and the network has to catch-up.
Unfortunately, we have no control over this strike action. But we will update clients on any changes to our services should we receive more detail from Royal Mail.
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Published 10th October 2022
More on October postal strikes
Royal Mail has announced that strike action will occur again this week on Thursday 13th October 2022.
The industrial action will also continue on Thursday 20th and Tuesday 25th October 2022.
Royal Mail’s latest news on its website states, “We’re doing what we can to keep services running, but customers should expect significant disruption.”
Unfortunately, Datagraphic has no influence over the decision to strike. However, we are working as normal and in regular contact with our mail carriers and clients to minimise delays to mailings wherever possible.
As always, we will keep this page updated with the latest information regarding postal strikes as and when we receive news.
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Published 29th September 2022
Postal strikes planned for October 2022
The latest information about the postal strikes is that the CWU has proposed further strike action with its members during October, November and December.
Royal Mail is ready to enter talks with the union to avoid industrial action.
Proposed CWU strike action dates
National action:
- Thursday 13th October
- Thursday 20th October
- Tuesday 25th October
- Monday 28th November
Functional action (parts of Royal Mail operations only):
- Network: 2nd, 8th, 14th, 23rd, 30th November
- Processing, area distribution, international, collections, admin, MDEC: 3rd, 9th, 15th, 24th November and 1st December
- Deliveries: 4th, 10th, 16th, 25th November and 2nd December
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Published 21st September 2022
Is Royal Mail going on strike this month?
Will the post be delivered between strike days?
Collections from business customers, Post Offices and post boxes will resume after the strikes finish. Deliveries will also resume after the industrial action, including accelerating NHS and healthcare letters and critical Government mailings.
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Published 9th September 2022
Royal Mail postal strike called off following the Queen’s passing
CWU, the union representing Royal Mail postal workers, cancelled the strike action planned today, Friday, 9 September 2022, following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II yesterday, on Thursday, 8 September 2022. The strike cancellation is a mark of respect to her and her family.
CWU general secretary Dave Ward said,
“Following the very sad news of the passing of the Queen, and out of respect for her service to the country and her family, the union has decided to call off tomorrow’s planned strike action.”
Has post already been affected by the strike?
115,000 Royal Mail workers began a 48-hour strike on Thursday, 8th September, causing disruption to postal services across the UK.
CWU has cancelled the second day of the planned strike. However, Royal Mail expects there to be significant disruption caused. It apologises for the inconvenience caused.
What dates is Royal Mail going on strike?
CWU members have proposed new dates for industrial action.
There are planned postal strikes on 30th September and 1st October 2022.
We will keep you updated on Royal Mail strikes as we receive information. Keep checking this page for the latest on the postal strikes.
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Published 30th August 2022
On Friday, 26th August, 115,000 postal workers began the first of four days of postal strikes following a ballot to take industrial action.
The next postal strike is planned for Wednesday, 31st August 2022.
During this time, Datagraphic will operate as normal and minimise disruption by continuing to work with DSA provider, Whistl. Whistl will process and collect customer mail and deliver it to the Royal Mail regional distribution centre, ready for delivery when postal services resume.
We apologise for any disruption caused to our clients, but unfortunately, Royal Mail operations are beyond our control.
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Published 10th August 2022
On 9th August 2022, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) – which represents Royal Mail Group workers, announced strike action on four dates in August and September.
Why are Royal Mail postal workers striking?
Postal workers are taking industrial action in a dispute over pay in what is described as the summer’s biggest strike so far.
The news follows the CWU’s ballot for strike action, which saw members vote by 97.6% on a 77% turnout to take action for a “dignified, proper pay rise”. The workers have rejected the offer of a 2% pay rise.
This latest announcement comes only weeks after another union, Unite, communicated that 2,400 Royal Mail managers from its members would no longer take strike action between 20th and 22nd July. This followed a ballot which saw a majority in favour of returning to negotiations.
When are the Royal Mail postal strikes?
Unfortunately, we are anticipating national disruption to Royal Mail services following the CWU officially confirming Royal Mail workers will strike. Disruption and service delays may be experienced during and immediately following these strike action dates;
- Friday 26th August
- Wednesday 31st August
- Thursday 8th September
- Friday 9th September
What will happen to postal deliveries?
In response to the CWU strike action announcement, Royal Mail released a Service During Industrial Action update commenting that:
‘We’re really sorry for the disruption that this strike action is likely to cause to you. We want to reassure you will do everything we can to minimise disruption and get our services back to normal as quickly as possible.
Royal Mail has well-developed contingency plans, but they cannot fully replace the daily efforts of its frontline workforce. We will be doing what we can to keep services running, but customers should expect significant disruption.’
CWU general secretary Dave Ward said,
“Nobody takes the decision to strike lightly, but postal workers are being pushed to the brink.”
Will I be affected by the postal strikes?
Despite the CWU stating the strike will be national, there is no official update currently in terms of where in the network the impact will be. Once Royal Mail shares more details about the exact impact, Datagraphic will share details of our contingency actions with our clients.
In the meantime, the following links offer more information regarding the Royal Mail strike:
- Royal Mail to Stage Four Day Strike Action (BBC News)
- CWU Strike Date Notification (Royal Mail Website)
- 115,000 Posties to Walk Out in Biggest Strike of Summer (CWU Website)
We will continue to monitor this situation closely, and should any further developments affect clients, we’ll make direct contact with you.
Tips to minimise the impact of postal strikes
- Prepare in advance. We will keep this page updated with any news relating to planned industrial action affecting postal services. Stay informed by bookmarking and checking the page following announcements.
- Maximise time in preparing mailings. We know it’s not always possible to send mailings earlier, particularly if they are time-sensitive. However, a third-party hybrid mail provider like Datagraphic can help free up internal staff to prepare mail quicker or take advantage of same-day printing and despatch to get ahead of the September strikes.
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The integrated multichannel communications platform is quick to set-up, secure, GDPR compliant and easy to use. Aceni Hybrid Mail takes care of all the documents you usually print and mail manually. Upload your data and documents from any location, and we’ll print and mail them.
Datagraphic prints and mails your post on the same working day, so you don’t need extra internal staff or resources to prepare mailings and get ahead of planned disruptions caused by postal strikes.
We also pre-sort mail on-site and work with a Downstream Access (DSA) provider who collects our mail and delivers it to the Royal Mail Inward Mail Centres, even on strike days. This means mail you send through our Aceni Hybrid Mail service is already in the postal system for delivery when Royal Mail delivery services resume.
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