1. On 29 April this year Channel 4 broadcast a documentary programme about the experiences of 2 undercover reporters working as casuals for Royal Mail. This led to an OFCOM complaint by Royal Mail, which felt that (1) it had been subjected to unfair treatment in “Third Class Post” and (2) wanted to protect the privacy of its employees.



2. The programme highlighted perceived problems in the use of casual workers, supplied to Royal Mail by agencies, and also prompted a debate about postal security. Royal Mail had already, prior to learning of the planned broadcast, decided to use fewer casual workers and has since announced that it will be using fewer temporary workers and had in fact been lobbying hard behind the scenes to obtain special permission from the Home Office to vet casual workers. The programme provided a valuable public service in supporting Royal Mail’s case that it should be allowed to check casual workers for undisclosed criminal records.



3. Channel 4 acknowledges that the vast majority of Royal Mail’s 200,000 people are honest and hardworking and Channel 4 is happy to make this clear and has never intended to suggest otherwise. At the time the programme was made Royal Mail was using the services of a large number of casual agency workers. Royal Mail is working with its employment agencies and unions to create a pool of high-calibre temporary workers who can now be more thoroughly vetted and used at periods of high demand.



4. Royal Mail shed approximately 30,000 of 220,000 jobs last year. The programme reported upon some operational issues that Royal Mail has been addressing such as clarification on the standards of behaviour expected of everyone working for Royal Mail, some day to day working practices, issues of security on Royal Mail premises and the training of new recruits.



5. Certain Royal Mail managers appeared in the programme without their knowledge or consent. Whilst Channel 4 believes it was appropriate to identify these people in the programme it is not suggested that they were involved in any wrongdoing and any distress caused to them by their identification is regretted.



6. The programme included secret filming of an agency worker at Royal Mail admitting that he had stolen a credit card from the post and describing how it is done. He was filmed supplying a stolen credit card to an undercover reporter which he boasted had been stolen from Royal Mail.



Channel 4 acknowledges and accepts, following evidence supplied after broadcast by Barclaycard that the credit card had not in fact been taken from the post as the worker had claimed but had been fraudulently obtained and was being fenced by a temporary postal worker away from Royal Mail premises. Channel 4 regrets this inadvertent inaccuracy.



Another casual worker, who also boasted in the programme of his acts of criminality, has subsequently been arrested and charged with conspiracy by the Police as a result of the work by the undercover investigative reporters. He denies the charges.



7. Newspaper advertisements to promote the programme consisted of a mocked-up photograph showing an envelope containing a birthday card being opened and money taken from it by an actor posing as a Royal Mail worker. During the period of undercover filming, no such or similar acts were filmed.



8. Royal Mail’s statistics show that about 21 billion letters are sent each year and 99.92% of all mail is delivered safely. The programme interviewed various victims of theft from the post in the light of the fact that more than 1 million letters were stolen or lost or misaddressed during the 2003/2004 financial year.



Royal Mail is the first to recognise that a single letter that goes missing is a matter of the utmost concern to it. As the film pointed out the problems highlighted by the programme, although serious, amount to a very small proportion overall. Channel 4 recognises that letters go astray for a variety of reasons, such as wrong addresses, not merely theft.



9. This statement is published following discussions between Royal Mail and Channel 4 to clarify the position and Royal Mail has withdrawn its complaints to OFCOM.