Constituents and businesses have been in touch with concerns about severe delays to postal delivery locally.
Residents are missing NHS and Hospital appointments, some are missing deadlines to pay fines and fees, and many are being inundated with two to three weeks' worth of post in one day.
Certain areas are experiencing considerably worse delays, including parts of Salvington, Durrington and central Worthing. Do comment below if your area is affected?
My team and I have been in regular contact with the head of Royal Mail on a case-by-case basis as well as sharing the overall concerns and issues experienced by constituents across Worthing and Arun communities.
In individual cases, we have been able to get severe delays addressed and postal delivery resumed in the hardest-hit areas. This does not alleviate overall concerns and the delays continuing to be experienced by many.
These delays are a result of heightened pressure on a limited workforce due to illness and staff shortages.
I have arranged to visit Worthing's sorting office to meet and discuss with local representatives the concerns shared by local residents and businesses, and to learn about what is being done to respond and address ongoing issues.
With the increasing price of stamps, constituents are right to expect post to be sent and delivered on time.
We want to have confidence when posting time-sensitive or highly personal mail that it will arrive safely and in good time. We want to trust deliveries to be reliable and regular.
We know that our hardworking local teams are doing everything they can, with limited resources, to maintain regular service and to improve delivery times. We will do all that is possible to support our teams as they go into their busiest time of year.
