Royal Mail has announced plans to cut 2,500 head office and other supporting roles by the end of 2027 as it battles competition and falling demand for letter deliveries.
The cuts at the postal service will represent about 2% of the 131,000-strong workforce.
However, frontline postal workers – posties and drivers – are not part of the proposed restructuring.
Royal Mail said the workforce reduction, designed to improve efficiency, would be achieved through voluntary redundancies and people choosing to leave the company.
It said the cuts would make it more efficient.
“These proposed changes remove duplication and allow us to invest further in the service we deliver for our customers,” said chief executive Alistair Cochrane.
He added that the job cuts “will not be easy, but they are an important part of building a stronger, simpler and future-ready Royal Mail for our customers and colleagues”.
Royal Mail said it was in formal consultation with its unions, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Unite CMA, over the plans.
The CWU said despite reassurances that there would be no compulsory redundancies, the announcement was “further evidence of a company that is demoralising staff and failing to deliver for customers and the wider community”.
“We urge the government to confront the reality of a collapsing Royal Mail and intervene to save this national institution,” deputy general secretary Martin Walsh told the BBC.
Unite said Royal Mail, regulator Ofcom, and the government had “failed to address the serious problems facing Royal Mail, especially high competition from gig economy postal services”.
The union said the cuts would not improve Royal Mail’s quality of service.
Royal Mail has been struggling to meet its delivery targets for first and second class post, and has been fined by the regulator for missing targets in recent years.
Just over 75% of first class letters were delivered on time in the year to the end of March, far off its target of 93%.
Fewer people are sending letters, and the company has repeatedly said that its Universal Service Obligation (USO) – a legal requirement to deliver letters six days a week to every address in the UK – is outdated and needs reform.
Royal Mail, which is a separate from the Post Office, has faced years of criticism from politicians and the public over slow letter deliveries.
In March, postal workers across the UK told the BBC they were being asked to move or hide mail from senior bosses to make it look like delivery targets were being met.
This year, more than 100 MPs have written to regulator Ofcom and the business secretary asking for something to be done about the poor service their constituents say they are receiving.
The firm has said it is investing £500m over the next five years as part of its improvement plan.
Royal Mail is owned by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group, after his takeover was approved by shareholders at the end of April last year.
Kretinsky has previously said he will not walk away from the requirement to deliver letters throughout the UK six days a week, as long as he is running the service.