Royal Mail has been fined £10.5m for missing postal delivery targets.
Regulator Ofcom said 74.7% of first class mail and 92.7% of second class was delivered on time in 2023/24.
The targets were 93% and 98.5%.
A “challenging financial position” was blamed by the company for its poor performance, the regulator said.
There were also “delays to the ballot on a deal that followed the previous year’s industrial action”.
But Ofcom said it did “not consider either of these to be justifiable reasons for Royal Mail’s failure to provide the levels of service expected of it”.
It went on: “Ultimately, it is for the company to manage its financial position taking account of its obligations.”
The fine will be passed “in full” to the “public purse”, Ofcom said.