CWU announces pause to new delivery model rollout

Postal October 9 2026

The CWU has today (9 October) announced a pause to any further rollout of delivery model 26 (DM26) until there is a credible and agreed plan to address the issues affecting units that are currently not working. Following the announcement, Royal Mail has requested immediate negotiations.

The union remains firmly committed to ensuring that both EP and Royal Mail comply with the National Agreement and urgently focus on those delivery offices where DM26 is not operating as intended.

It is important to remember that when a regulator changes the Universal Service Obligation for the delivery of mail, it creates a binding requirement on the company to implement those changes for both legal and commercial reasons.

DM26 was not the union’s preferred option, nor do we run the company. It was a negotiated solution and the only viable alternative to the optimised delivery model (ODM), which failed to deliver in the offices where it was trialled. It was also the only other alternative option that complied with Ofcom’s regulatory changes.

Members are reminded that the best way to ensure delivery offices bring in the new way of working successfully is to support your union at local, area and Divisional level to ensure that the necessary interventions and agreed fixes are delivered within your workplace.

Together, we must now focus on ensuring that the agreements we have secured are properly implemented and that every affected unit receives the support and corrective action it needs.