We aim to foster a culture based on honesty, integrity and openness.

The overarching business policies that set out our approach to responsible conduct in our business and supply chain are outlined on the next page. Copies of the policies are available here. 

Royal Mail's compliance and ethics programme

Royal Mail employees have access to policies and guidance via the People App, intranet or its communications channel, MyRoyalMail. Royal Mail operates a comprehensive ethics and compliance training programme. All employees are required to undertake training relevant to their role and managers are required to complete compliance refresher training annually which includes an attestation of the Royal Mail Business Standards. Colleagues, contractors, agency and casual workers, suppliers, business partners and the public are encouraged to report any suspected policy breaches through the business’ confidential whistleblowing process.

Royal Mail's compliance and ethics programme ensures employees are trained to make ethical decisions and trusted to make the right decision. Each business unit or subsidiary has a compliance and ethics champion and a coordinator. The champion’s role is to promote a culture of compliance and ethics, establish the appropriate ‘tone from the top’, and own, identify and mitigate relevant risks in their business area.

The role of the coordinator is to support the champion and the compliance and ethics function to effectively implement our compliance framework, including through active participation in the compliance coordinator network. The framework is supported by a programme of assurance, continuous improvement and audit to provide comfort that the framework is fit for purpose and effective.

Key initiatives launched in 2023-24:

• This year, we launched a campaign to reinforce standards of behaviour at work and build a positive culture. This included a relaunch of our Business Standards, a new tool for raising concerns, and delivering training, to help drive colleague and leadership accountability in this important area. We are pleased to confirm that, in 2023-24, the overall completion rate for our compliance training was 99%.
• This year, we launched a new facility on our People App to make it easier for colleagues to raise concerns through one single entry points. In 2023-24, we saw a 13% decrease in bullying and harassment concerns, with 95% of the issues referred, citing bullying and harassment, successfully resolved through mediations.

More information can be found in Royal Mail's 2023-24 ESG Report here.